The Dragons Breath
by Silver Fox Trot
Summary: A girl not from our worldjoins the Fellowship. She has special powers that few know about. Besides fighting Sauron, she has another enemy, one that wants her dead.
1. Prologue

Note: This will be mainly LotR, except for the prologue which will mainly be BOF III, for those of you who don't know what BOF means, it's Breath Of Fire 3, its about a boy/man (he grows up) who tries to find out why he is the only Brood, who are Dragons, left alive, he looks human, but when in danger, he can turn into a Dragon, this story has nothing to do with the characters in the game, except for Rei, who'll make appearances from time to time.  
  
Also: I'm going by book-verse AND movie-verse, I'm keeping all the parts I like from each, and throwing the rest into a black hole in space  
  
The Dragons Breath  
  
Prologue:  
  
As the she moved through what was left of the battle field, Selene looked around in hopes of finding life. Not to her surprise, all she saw was burnt earth and grass.  
  
As she was looking around she heard a roar coming from behind the rock ledge just in front of her.  
  
"Looks like I'm not as late as I thought. If I can save even one, this whole thing will be worth it." She said to herself as she started running toward the ledge.  
  
As she rounded the corner, what she saw horrified her. From what she saw, the battle was almost over, the beautiful, emerald green, dragon was losing to one of the dragon-killers of the Goddess Mica.  
  
'I understand why she would want all the dragons gone, but..................... did her warriors have to do it in such a bloody manner.' She thought she looked upon the battle.  
  
With one final blow, the lion-like warrior struck the dragon. After one final roar the dragon fell.  
  
"Now why did you go and do that!" Yelled Selene, as she rushed up to the fallen Dragon, she kneeled down and gently, she took its beautiful head and placed it in her lap. She started stroking its head, easing its passing as much as she could.  
  
The Dragon looked at her in the eye, then, it closed its eye for the last time.  
  
Selene sighed in defeat as she placed the head gently on the ground. The Dragon-killer just looked at her before walking away without a backwards glance.  
  
Selene just glared at his retreating back.  
  
Suddenly, she heard a little chirping sound. She frowned. 'That's weird. There shouldn't be any birds around her at all, unless...' Quickly, she stood up and listened for the sound again.  
  
"It's coming from that cave!" She rushed towards the cave. She skidded to an abrupt halt as she reached the end. In the back was a large nest, and in the middle was a little whelp (baby Dragon).  
  
The whelp was the same emerald green as her mother, although it looked a little brighter.  
  
It was currently sleeping in the straw nest. Behind the little one was a black egg.  
  
Selene looked upon the empty egg shell and sighed. This young one had just hatched.  
  
She picked up the little one in her arms and cradled it, all the while trying to find a way of making sure that at least this dragon would survive Mica's purging. Then, she got a genius idea.  
  
She started mumbling in an ancient language, and before her appeared a pale orange light. As soon as it faded, she opened her eyes, before her stood a rather tall.... Creature, it looked to be half man / half Tiger. He stood on his two back feet and had hands like humans, but he was covered in orange and black fur, he also had a rather large Tiger tail.  
  
He looked at the Goddess seated before him, and he kneeled before her.  
  
Head bowed, he spoke. "You summoned me, o' Goddess of the Dragons?"  
  
Gracefully, the Dragon goddess stood up, still holding the sleeping Whelp in her hands. She laughed a bit.  
  
"Rei, after all of these eons, you'd have thought that you'd have learned to at least call me Selene."  
  
Rei blushed a bit, he then stood up, he easily towered over her. He looked at her with piercing yellow eyes. He then noticed the small whelp in her arms. He blinked and tilted his head.  
  
"Rei, I summoned you her for a great purpose. As you may know, Mica has decreed that all Dragons are to die. I would like you to take her to a place where she will be well taken care of. I believe that you've already been there before. I want you to deliver her to the Mahoutsukai (Wizard) . He will know what to do. I shall first change her form. Stand back." Selene said, while placing the young Whelp in the nest and slowly backing up a few paces. When she had reached what she thought of as a safe distance, she placed her hands forward, palm facing the Whelp.  
  
She started chanting in an ancient language again. This time, it was the Whelp who glowed, she glowed a pale blue colour, it was so bright that Rei had to cover his eyes.  
  
When the glowing had faded, Rei opened his eyes and looked at the nest. Where was once a small green Whelp, was now a young human child, of about 2 summers of age, with medium brown hair, with blond highlights, most of her hair was cut short, giving her a boyish look, except for her bangs which reached to just below her chin, and were a brilliant blond in colour.  
  
"Go ahead Rei, pick her up. But be careful not to wake her." Said Selene.  
  
Rei slowly made his to the young child, he noticed that she had a small necklace around her neck, with 5 little charms on them, a snow flake, a flame, a shield and a small tornado, and a black sphere as well.  
  
He grabbed the child in his strong arms and looked at Selene with a questioning glaze.  
  
"Do not worry Rei, those charms are just were I placed the Power of the Brood, for her to use in the future, she might need them. Now to send you to the Mahoutsukai. But first I think that we name this little one." Said Selene, she then looked at the child, and placed her hand on the girls forehead, after concentrating for a little while, she whispered, "Kin (Gold) Hiryuu (flying Dragon). Her Dragon name if Kin Hiryuu. It's decided, her name shall be Hiryuu. Now, I think it best you leave right away. I'll try to drop you and the child close to the Mahoutsukai. One more thing before you leave, tell Mahoutsukai that the child is to know of her powers only when she reaches 12 summers of age, it would be easier that way, for should learn to control herself in stressful situations."  
  
Again, she placed her hands in front of her and closed her eyes, this time, it was her that glowed, a cool green colour. In front of her, a pale green portal opened up. Rei walked to it without the slightest bit of hesitation, he looked at the Goddess one last time and bowed his head. He then jumped into the portal.  
  
--  
  
Rei tightly clutched the small child to his chest, he didn't want to fail his Goddess by letting this little one get lost in the Ani (my name for the World between Worlds). He felt something tug on his tunic and looked down to see the child holding it in her small hands, he smiled, she was asleep, and yet she somehow sensed that this wasn't the type of place to be alone in, he look ahead just in time to see a door identical to the one he had entered into here with.  
  
Finally, the horrible ride was over.  
  
He let out the breath of air he hadn't even realized he had been holding.  
  
He looked around and found himself in a forest. He smiled. He had been here before.  
  
Suddenly, he looked behind him. He heard something. It, sounded like a person whistling. His smiled widened.  
  
Careful not to make a sound, he began walking towards the whistling, all the while the child slept peacefully in his arms.  
  
After a while, he came upon a small camp, in it, were two people. On old man with a pointed hat and a grey beard, and a sleeping man with a slightly weather beaten face.  
  
His grin widened at the site of the old man, but he knew that this was not just any old man, he was a Mahoutsukai, a Wizard, Gandalf the Grey, to be exact.  
  
"Mahoutsukai!" He whispered loudly.  
  
The wizard turned suddenly upon hearing his name.  
  
Slowly, Rei made his way into the line of site of the Wizard.  
  
At the site of the grinning Rei, he gave a mighty cry of joy, while swiftly leaping to his feet with the grace only an Elf could rival, he ran up to the Tiger/man.  
  
Meanwhile, at Gandalf joyous cry, the other man woke with a start. Quickly, he grabbed his sword, and drew it from it's sheath, pointing it towards Gandalf and the Tiger man embracing each other.  
  
"How are you? My old friend, it's been such a long time since I've last seen you, even by our standards!" Said Gandalf leading Rei back to the camp, not taking any notice of the small child in Rei's arm.  
  
"I could be better, my friend, however, it is unfortunate enough that this visit is strictly business. I have a favour to ask of you. It comes straight from Selene." Said Rei. He then took notice of the other man, the one with the sword. "You can tell you friend to put away his sword, Gandalf."  
  
"Put it away, Aragorn, Rei here is a trusted friend of mine, you can trust him too. Now, let me introduce you two. Rei, this is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir to the thrown of Gondor. And Aragorn, this is Rei, he's been with me on many a journey. Come sit down, I think that we have much to discuss." Said Gandalf, sitting down in front of the fire, across from Rei, with Aragorn at his side.  
  
Rei stood, still holding the sleeping Hiryuu.  
  
"Gandalf, as you may know, Mica has ordered that all of the Brood be destroyed, to prevent that from happening, Selene sent me here with one of the hatchlings. She told to bring her here to you, that you'd know what to do." Said Rei, sitting down opposite of Gandalf, showing him Hiryuu.  
  
When he heard of Mica's plan, Gandalf frowned a bit. But it quickly disappeared at the site of the sleeping child. Aragorn meanwhile, just looked confused, this was his first time meeting a person who was half Tiger and half Man, who was apparently an old friend of Gandalf's and the first time he had ever heard of this race, the Brood. His curiosity was getting the better of him.  
  
He leaned forward and looked at the child, she looked like any other children he had seen. What was so special about this one? He looked at Gandalf and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Don't worry, my dear friend, I know what to do. You need not have any fear for her safety." Said Gandalf, looking at Rei, he then turned to Aragorn. "And do not worry my friend, I shall explain everything to you in a while. Now, I believe that it would be a good idea to leave for Rivendell right away. Let's get packing."  
  
"Here Gandalf, take the child, I must return to Selene, I don't feel comfortable leaving her alone for long periods of time. I was also told to tell you; she is to know of her powers only when she reaches twelve summers of age, and to train with them. And her name is Kin Hiryuu, but just call her Hiryuu. Now, I bid you farewell." With that he got up, handed the child to Gandalf, and left.  
  
Gandalf looked at the sleeping child in his arms. He then caught sight of her necklace, he frowned and looked at all the little charms, he was so caught up in them that he didn't even notice Aragorn tap him on the shoulder lightly, then a little harder, finally, he grabbed the Wizards shoulder and gave him a little shake.  
  
Gandalf looked up and saw that Aragorn had already packed everything, and had the horses ready. Quickly, he removed the necklace from around child's neck, putting them in the folds of his robe. Gandalf handed him the child and climbed onto his horse, once he was on, Aragorn handed him the child and easily jumped onto his.  
  
"Now, Gandalf, care to tell me why we had to leave camp in such a hurry? And what in the Valar's name is a Brood?" Asked Aragorn as he and Gandalf raced to Rivendell.  
  
"I shall tell you, may friend, but it shall take a while." Responded Gandalf as he started his horse at a brisk trot, Aragorn did the same.  
  
"Aragorn. The Brood is a type of Dragon not found on Middle-Earth, they are a distant cousin of the type of Dragons found here, but they are relatively calmer and more peaceful than those here, unless angered of course. Then, they are a force to be reckoned with. Although most of the time they look the same as the Dragons here, they also have human bodies, luckily the Dragons here don't have that power. Also, they have several different forms, depending upon which element they harness. Most of them just have one, but sometimes, a lucky few are born with the ability to use several. Such as this child here." Gandalf took out the necklace and passed it to Aragorn.  
  
"As you can see, each element she can use is represented by a different charm. She will probably also be able to mix and match them after a bit of practice." The wizened wizard looked at Aragorn as he fingered the necklace.  
  
"Gandalf," he started after a few seconds, "where do you plan on bringing the child. Surely not-"  
  
"Yes I do, Aragorn, it's the closest Haven, and one of the safest too. She will be fine there." Interrupted Gandalf.  
  
Fin of Prologue  
  
-  
  
Me: Well? What do you think guys?  
  
Hiryuu: I liked it! Except for the fact that Mama died.....  
  
Me: Sorry about it, it just fit into the story, you'll learn more later on, but apart from that, what do you think?  
  
Elladan and Elrohir enter   
  
Elladan: I liked it too but....  
  
Me: But what?  
  
Elrohir: You forgot the disclaimer.....  
  
Me: WHAT!!!!!!! runs around her office searching for her disclaimer  
  
Elladan: Since Ginnitsune is busy, we'll do the disclaimer today. Ginnitsune  
  
Hiryuu: Owns  
  
Elrohir: Nada!  
  
Hiryuu: Except for me and the other OC's!  
  
Everyone: Until next time! Ja ne! 


	2. Ch 1 Several Years Later

Ch. 1 Several years later  
  
Several Years Later  
  
Frodo was having a rather pleasant day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and he was sitting at the base of his favourite tree, reading his favourite book. Best of all, his thirty-third birthday would be coming in a few days, as well as his Uncle Bilbo's eleventy-first birthday on the same day.  
  
He was excited because Gandalf was suppose to arrive soon, along with some of his famous fireworks, which had not been seen in the Shire for many a year.  
  
Suddenly, with his excellent Hobbit hearing, her heard a noise in the distance, it sounded like a person whistling, the clop-clop of a horse, and the squeak of a cart's wheel. Frodo stood up. And tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.  
  
There, from the right! Frodo hurried through the woods, and Towards the Old road. When he reached it, he found himself on a small hill, overlooking the road, and coming down it was a large cart, being drawn by a large horse, even by human standards. And sitting in the drivers seat, was Gandalf, smoking his pipe.  
  
Frodo smiled widely at the sight of his friend, of whom he hadn't seen in years.  
  
"Gandalf!" Yelled Frodo as he launched himself at the wizard, giving him a big Hobbit-hug. "Gandalf! I'm glad to see you!" Said the young Hobbit as he let go of the Wizard.  
  
"And it's good to see you to, Frodo. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, but I was a little pre-occupied, but I wouldn't miss your Uncles Birthday, or yours for that matter, for the world. Now then, how about he get to Hobbiton?" Said Gandalf, smiling at the over-excited Hobbit.  
  
"Sure Gandalf, just let me get my stuff first. I'll be right back!" And with that, the little Hobbit dashed off to the tree to gather the small pack he had brought with him, it had been filled with food, The key-word was HAD, now it only and the book he brought, and few trinkets. He hopped into the seat beside Gandalf, and absent-mindedly gently dropped his bag in the cart behind him.  
  
"Ah! What the! Can't a girl get any sleep back here!" Said a voice suddenly from the cart behind them. Frodo was so startled that he literally leapt into Gandalf's lap in fright. Gandalf just laughed at the Hobbit's antics.  
  
After taking several deep breaths, Frodo had finally calmed down enough that he carefully climbed off of Gandalf's lap, and gave him a sheepish grin.  
  
Then Frodo looked over the edge and saw a girl with medium brown hair, with blond highlights, her hair was long, reaching the base of the back, most of her hair was being held back by a deep red head-band, except for her bangs which reached to just below her chin, and were a brilliant blond in colour. Her eyes were a deep golden, that had sparks of mischief, innocence (Author: coughs innocent my foot notices readers uh, hehehe, ya didn't see anything ), and a natural curiosity for anything and everything in the world. She also looked about 15 summers of age. She was wearing a sleeveless beige shirt, that hung a little loose around her slim frame, and she was also wearing her favourite black pants, that were just a little on the baggy side. (For those of you that watch Yu-Gi-Oh, what I just described was Marik's cloths)  
  
"Oh, hello. Sorry about that. I didn't know that you were there. My names Frodo, what's yours? Are you a friend of Gandalfs'? Why were you sleeping back there?" Asked the ever-curious Frodo in one breath.  
  
The girl just raise and elegant eyebrow at him and glanced at Gandalf. Who just laughed a bit.  
  
"Frodo, this is a dear friend of mine, her name is Hiryuu. Don't worry to much about her lack of response, it is not often that one comes upon a curious Hobbit such as yourself, dear Frodo." Said Gandalf.  
  
Hiryuu grinned a little at Gandalfs comment as she held out her hand to shack hands with the young Hobbit.  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Frodo." Said Hiryuu.  
  
"It's a please meeting you as well, but, please just Frodo, Miss. Hiryuu." Said Frodo, grasping Hiryuu's extended hand.  
  
"How about a deal. I call you Frodo, and you call me Hiryuu." She said.  
  
"Deal."  
  
They then noticed that they had reached Hobbiton and Frodo remembered that he had some things to do in town. And he said farewell to his old friend Gandalf, and his new friend, Hiryuu.  
  
As soon as he left, Hiryuu hopped into his now-empty seat beside Gandalf, since they would soon arrive at Bag End, it would give her enough time to fall asleep again, besides, those Fireworks were getting slightly uncomfortable.  
  
All to soon they arrived at Bag End, a sign had been hanged onto the gate saying "No Admission Except For Party Business."  
  
Gandalf just ignored the sign and walked up to the front door, and knocked. Hiryuu followed the old Wizards example and waited for a response. One came almost immediately.  
  
"Go away! We are not receiving friends, distant relations, or well wishers at this moment!"  
  
"And what about Very old friends?" Asked Gandalf after Bilbo's refusal to open the door.  
  
Almost immediately the door opened, and out popped Bilbo, who immediately jumped onto the old Wizard, giving him a big hug.  
  
"Gandalf! It's good to see you again! I'm so happy that you came!" Said the happy Hobbit as he released his choke-hold on the Wizard.  
  
The old Hobbit noticed that there was someone behind the Wizard.  
  
"Oh! Hello there! You must be the friend the Gandalf said he was bringing. Well, I certainly wasn't expecting it to be a Lady, and certainly not one as pretty as yourself!" Said Bilbo.  
  
Hiryuu just blushed a deep, deep red.  
  
Gandalf, meanwhile, chuckled at this reaction. Few people in the world could render the girls sassy tongue speechless, save himself (even then) a FEW high-ranking Elves, and a mortal or two.  
  
"You certainly do have a way with words, my friend. For few alive have ever managed to get THIS reaction out of her!" Said Gandalf between chuckles.  
  
"Gandalf! I resent that!" Said Hiryuu, glaring at the aforementioned Wizard.  
  
Gandalf just continued to chuckle.  
  
Hiryuu wisely kept her mouth shut. To avoid any further embarrassment.  
  
Just then, Bilbo remembered that they were still outside.  
  
And with a quick. "Come in! Come in!" The Hobbit dashed inside to make some tea.  
  
Gandalf went in first, followed by Hiryuu, who turned and closed the door behind her when she heard a rather loud thud from behind her.  
  
She turned and saw that Gandalf had hit his head on the low ceiling. It was so low in fact, that Gandalf had to bend over a bit.  
  
Hiryuu smirked, sure the ceiling was rather low, but because she was just under 5'5", the ceiling barely touched her head, sure she'd have a problem with doors, but not as much as Gandalf would have!  
  
She smirked a bit more as Gandalf put his hat and staff on a peg by the wall and his staff beside it. There was a small red mark on his forehead, but it was quickly disappearing.  
  
She was just about to walk into the room the old Hobbit had walked into, when she heard a coughing noise from behind her.  
  
She turned and raised an eyebrow at the old wizard. Silently asking why she wasn't allowed to go in, she didn't have a cloak to put up, in fact, except for a spare change of clothes in her bag, which was in Gandalf's cart, the only things she had were was he sleeve-less tunic, which was a sandy beige, and her black pants which flared out a bit half- way between her knees and her worn brown boots. Sure it wasn't often that a young woman would opt to where such clothing, but Hiryuu thrived on being different from other females, no matter what their race, besides, she found it easier to fight in this than a dress!  
  
"Your sword Hiryuu." Gandalf finally after a couple of minutes, pointing at the long, thin sword that hung at her hip, on a crocked belt that was only used to hold her sword.  
  
She raised her other eyebrow and crossed her arms in a I-won't-do-it look.  
  
Gandalf copied the stance but with a yes-you-will-look. After a couple of seconds she gave it was mainly because he was giving her a very powerful look, one that greatly rivalled her fathers, she secretly wondered if he used some of his magic on her.  
  
She completely removed her belt with the sword on it and placed it beside Gandalf's staff with some reluctance. She then followed the wizard into the kitchen.  
  
--  
  
Bilbo was just setting the tea pot on the table when they entered. He pointed to two chairs around his low table. They were larger than the rest, yet still small by their standards, they were obviously meant for Dwarves, which wasn't unusual, since they sometimes came by Bag End. Hiryuu didn't mind, her slim frame easily fit into the small chairs.  
  
Gandalf, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate. So he took the stool instead.  
  
They murmured their thanks as Bilbo handed them their tea, in hobbit- sized cups of course. Hiryuu looked at it, blinked, then down the hot tea in one go before setting it on the table.  
  
Gandalf looked at Bilbo.  
  
"So, do you really plan on doing it?" He asked after a moment of silence.  
  
Bilbo sighed and nodded sadly.  
  
"Yes, I do. I believe that it's time for me to leave, Gandalf. I want to see the mountains again. Mountains Gandalf! And besides," At this point he looked out the window sadly, at the field where the party would be held that night, "I feel..... stretched, worn out, like a piece of leather pulled to hard."  
  
At the mention of feeling worn out, Gandalf and Hiryuu exchanged a knowing look behind Bilbo's back.  
  
"Excuse me for a minute, but I believed that I left something important in the cart. Maybe I'll go for a walk after I bring it in." Said Hiryuu cheerfully, deciding it best to leave two old friends to chat away the afternoon.  
  
After putting her bag in the hallway beside her sword, she went in search of a shady place to finish her nap that had been rudely interrupted earlier....  
  
Fin of Ch1  
  
-  
  
Me: Done chapter 1!  
  
Hiryuu: (Pats Author on back) Congratulations! That only took you a weak to write!  
  
Me: well Sorry! It's not my fault if I was proof-reading the Prologue!  
  
Hiryuu: I guess your right.....  
  
Me: I always am!  
  
Hiryuu: .......  
  
Both: Until Next Update! Ja ne! 


	3. Ch 2 Parties, Fireworks, and Dishes

CH. 2 Parties, fireworks, and Dishes  
  
It was a wonderful evening, there was lots of food, drink, food, dancing, food, singing, food, fireworks, food, presents, by the way, did I mention food? Yes, so far, it had been a perfect evening, but as we all know, perfect evenings are not meant to last. And, according to Murphy's law; what can go wrong, WILL go wrong.  
  
And here is where this part of the story begins, with Merry and Pippin, sneaking around Gandalf's cart, still half full of fireworks, care to guess what happens.......  
  
"Hurry up Pippin!" Said a voice coming from behind the cart.  
  
"I am Merry! Which one do you want?" Said Pippin.  
  
"The big one!" Said Merry.  
  
Grabbing the biggest one, which was in the shape of a Dragon, and quickly passed it to his accomplice, before getting out and rushing towards a near-by pavilion. Once they were safely under it, Pippin lit it, then looked at Merry expectantly.  
  
"Put it in the ground!" Said Merry worriedly as he watched the fuse grow shorter, he pushed it towards Pippin.  
  
"It is in the ground!" Shouted Pippin pushing it towards Merry.  
  
Just as he was about to retort, the giant firework started hissing just before it flew up into the sky with a loud hiss. It soared high into the sky, just as Pippin let out a girlish screech, carrying the Pavilion with it, before exploding and transforming into a huge fire-Dragon.  
  
It roared loudly and soon had swooped low over everyone's head, causing many people to duck under the tables, and some tables to be over- turned.  
  
After it's initial swoop, it banked sharply and came for a second dive. With a mighty roar, it flew over the lake and exploded into hundreds of tiny red butterflies.  
  
Everyone laughed nervously, hoping that it was the only one.  
  
Cautiously, Merry and Pippin got up from were they had fallen to the floor, looked at each others dust-covered faces, then broke out into identical grins.  
  
"Lets get another one!" Proposed Pippin.  
  
"Yeah.." Said Merry, but just as they were about to turn and get another one, a hand grabbed each of their ears and pulled it. Both of them looked up to see a rather angry Gandalf.  
  
"And what have we here, hmm? Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck, it seems that you two have gotten yourselves into trouble again, and with my fireworks no less. Now, what to do about you two?" Said the wise Wizard.  
  
Still holding theirs ears, he dragged them over to the makeshift kitchen, where several hired Hobbits were washing the rising mountain of dishes.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss Juana, but I have a small favour to ask you.» Said Gandalf to a passing female Hobbit.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Gandalf?" Asked Juana. Merry and Pippin looked at the brown- haired and deep brown-eyed Hobbit in front of them. Juana was well known over the Shire for her wonderful cooking, especially in the area of cakes and cookies, which were said to be the best in the Shire. She was generally a kind Hobbit, freely giving her baked goods to whoever asked, but she was also known for her strength, for she was almost as strong as her husband, some even said that she was stronger, Andy the Blacksmith. And also for giving young Hobbits a punishment they soon wouldn't forget, for filching goodies and other things from her kitchen.  
  
"All I ask, Miss Juana, is that you give young Merry and Pippin here, some work in your kitchen, just enough so that they don't even think about taking my fireworks anytime soon."  
  
"Ah, I should have known that it would have been these two who set off that big firework. Don't worry, Gandalf sir. I know just what to do with them, since I am currently short of hands, since most of the staff now have to go and pick up the broken dishes, unfortunately, you'll have to find someone else to watch and make sure they don't scamper off, since I'll be helping as well." She said to Gandalf before turning to the two Hobbits. "Boys! I want those dishes washed and dried before I come back. All of them." Juana looked at them as a General might look at his troops before turning and ordering the other hired Hobbits to start picking up the broken dishes.  
  
Wordlessly, Merry and Pippin trudged to the pile of dishes, which in there eyes, seemed to be as high as the lonely mountain from one of Bilbo's stories.  
  
"Oh and boys?" They both turned to see Juana looking at them. "I don't want to see a single dish broken, or else you'll be getting naught from my kitchen from now on." They both looked on in horror; no more goodies from her kitchen! That was almost as bad as not being allowed to have a single mushroom, when there was a full basket in front of them.  
  
"You heard her boys, hop to it. I must take my leave now, but I'll have Hiryuu to watch over you two." Looking around, he spotted Hiryuu, walking away from a crowd of young obit child, currently playing with there new toys. Catching her eye, he called her over with a wave of his hand.  
  
"Yes, Gandalf?" Said Hiryuu as she came jogging up, although she was a tad bit tipsy, but, strangely enough, she was only tilting to the left.  
  
Gandalf raised a bushy eyebrow as she missed the stool she was trying to sit on, almost hitting the table.  
  
"Hiryuu, have you been drinking?" He asked.  
  
Suddenly, the ground underneath her feet became quite interesting.  
  
"Only a bit." She answered after a moment of awkward silence.  
  
"How much?"  
  
"Two pints." She said quietly.  
  
"Only a bit you say?"  
  
"Well, I can drink more of this stuff, since it isn't as strong as the wine back home. Besides, the only reason I'm a bit tipsy is because I've spent the better part of the last two hours spinning a bunch of children in circles." Said Hiryuu, before finally managing to sit on the stool, she has nearly crashed into in the past few minutes.  
  
Merry and Pippin looked at her in awe. This slip of a girl, barely sixteen, if that, had drunken a WHOLE TWO PINTS! And she wasn't even tipsy! Last year, they had both tried to drink a full pint each. Needless to say, they failed, and regretted their actions the next morning. But they were getting better, now they could drink a full pint each, barely.  
  
Gandalf looked at the Hobbits, who were currently fixing their starry-eyed gaze upon the girl in front of them.  
  
He coughed loudly to gain their attention, since Hiryuu was concentrating on keeping the whole of Arda from spinning.  
  
"Now. Hiryuu. I want you to make sure that these two clean All of the dishes, and they are not to leave until every last one of them are dry. And neither are you allowed to leave or let anyone help them.  
  
"Yes Gandalf." Said Hiryuu, as she tried to get comfortable in her uncomfortable stool. She looked at the Troublesome Twosome, as they were known in Hobbiton, work on their punishment.  
  
After a while of relative silence, excluding the noises of the dishes and such, Hiryuu got bored, and started asking questions.  
  
"So....Why are does Gandalf want you to wash several hundred Dishes?" Asked Hiryuu, having missed the whole firework fiasco because she been bombarded with frightened Hobbit children when it first went off.  
  
Pippin looked her and smiled as he put a stack of clean dishes on the table.  
  
"I think it's cause we stole one of his fireworks, and set it off." He then went back to drying the dishes, and Hiryuu zoned off into her own world.  
  
Then Merry decided it was time to ask a question.  
  
"Miss. Hiryuu-" He began.  
  
"Please, just Hiryuu, I get enough formality at home." Interrupted Hiryuu. 'What is it with Hobbits and their Miss, Sir and Mr.!' Thought Hiryuu.  
  
"Alrighty then, Hiryuu, How is it that you came to know Gandalf?" Asked the ever-curious Hobbit.  
  
"How I met Gandalf? Hmm, that's a hard one, I guess you can say that I've known him all my life, he's been a personal friend of my father, my brothers, and my sister for as long as I can remember." She said, after thinking it over for a bit.  
  
"You have brothers?" Asked Merry.  
  
"Yep. Three actually!"  
  
"What are their names?" Asked both Hobbits at the same time.  
  
For those of you who don't know, Hobbits enjoy learning about family history, and are always willing to learn about other peoples family, even if they had heard the story several times before.  
  
"Their names are Elladan, Elrohir, and Aragorn. From oldest to youngest." She replied happily.  
  
Just as Merry was about to ask another question, Bilbo got up for his yearly speech. Every conversation in the field quieted down......  
  
Fin of Chapter 2  
  
-  
  
Me: Well, ya like?  
  
Hiryuu: I like it! I love playing with kids!  
  
Elladan: That's cause you ARE a kid!  
  
Hiryuu: I am not a kid! I'm sixteen years old, so I am no longer a kid!  
  
Elrohir: Ah, but remember Aiwë, compared to us, you are still a child, and no matter how much you grow, you'll still be our kid sister.  
  
Me: Awww! Family mushiness! How adorable, but remember why I called you three here? I still haven't found that formal and well written disclaimer yet.... (starts to move all the papers of notes from around her desk in search for her long a BORING disclaimer)  
  
Hiryuu: (looks and finds a paper with the word Disclaimer written on it in big letters, picks it up and puts it in her bag and looks around, whistling innocently)  
  
Elladan: Hiryuu owns nothing, except for the OC's and a couple of DVD's....  
  
Elrohir: And please don't even bother trying to sue her, she has absolutely NO money!  
  
Hiryuu: I would also like to add that most of the non-Elvish names and words in this story are actually Japanese, for example; Hiryuu actually means Flying Dragon in Japan!  
  
I would Like to say these words to the following reviews:  
  
frodofreak88 : Thank you so much!  
  
MST3KguruK10 : Just so you know, Hiryuu doesn't originate from Middle- earth, she comes from a completely different world, and so, is not like the other Dragons, you read the Prologue carefully, you'll see that Rei goes through the Ani, he's changing worlds. But thanks for the Info anyways! 


	4. Ch 3 Speeches and Partings

Ch. 3 Speeches and Partings  
  
NB: I shall be skipping the whole of the speech, instead I shall just write about what happened afterwards, since almost everyone who reads fics can look it up in the movie, or the book.  
  
---  
  
Everybody gasped! Bilbo, after having said his usual lengthy speech, had just vanished with a great flash of light!  
  
Everyone, except for Gandalf who had a knowing smile on his face, and Frodo and Hiryuu to some extent, were shocked to say the least! After all, it's not everyday that a Hobbit, even one as odd as Bilbo, just disappear into thin air!  
  
Finally after a bit, Frodo managed to get everything into some semblance of order, and the party continued as planned. Unknown to all, except the vigilant Hiryuu, Gandalf slipped off just a little while after calm had been restored.  
  
Hiryuu watch with a curious look as she watched Gandalf make his way to Bilbo's Hobbit-hole. Just as she was about to follow him, she felt a tiny hand grab her own. She looked down and saw a young Hobbit-girl, no more than four years old if that, she looked up at Hiryuu with great big puppy-dog like eyes.  
  
"Can you spwin me, pwease, Miss. Hiwyuu?" Begged the little girl.  
  
Hiryuu looked at the girl in question, then Gandalf who had just entered Bilbo's house , then back at the smiling girl. 'By the Valar, are all children this cute?' Thought Hiryuu, before she sighed and grabbed the other hand and began twirling her around, soon, she was surrounded by most of the children.  
  
Meanwhile, Frodo too, had seen the wizard depart, he would have left, had he not been surrounded by several worried Hobbits. By the time that he had calmed them down enough to get away from them, he had completely forgotten it, and anyways, he'd see him later, right?  
  
Finally, after several hours, and after several people –and children- had left, Frodo, along with Hiryuu, were finally able to get away from the party.  
  
"How do you think he managed to disappear like that, Miss Hiryuu?" Asked Frodo as they trudged up to the path.  
  
Hiryuu was quiet for a little bit, deep in thought, before answering.  
  
"I ..... don't really know Frodo, maybe Gandalf will have a few answers." Silently she added to herself. 'There better be.'  
  
Finally they arrived at Bag-End, Frodo let Hiryuu in first, being the gentle-Hobbit that he always was.  
  
"Bilbo! Bilbo!" He yelled as he entered Bag-end.  
  
Hiryuu, bending down slightly, looked around for Gandalf as soon as she entered, she found him sitting beside a cozy looking fire in the sitting room, smoking some of the famous Shire pipe-weed. She didn't notice Frodo bend down and pick something up from in front of the door.  
  
As Hiryuu approached Gandalf, she wasn't sure whether or not he had noticed them come in, since he appeared to be deep in thought.  
  
"Gandalf?" Said Frodo a little uncertainly from behind her. She turned around to see Frodo holding something in his hand, she caught a small glimpse of gold as he passed by her stared at Gandalf. "He's gone, hasn't he? He talked for so long about it. I didn't think he'd really do it." He walked up until he was beside Gandalf, who was still staring intently at the fire. While Hiryuu looked out the widow, at the party field, from time to time glancing at the duo by the fire place.  
  
"Gandalf?" Asked Frodo after a minute or so of silence.  
  
Finally, Gandalf took the pipe out of his mouth, he looked at the ring for a second, before looking Frodo in the eyes.  
  
"Hmm, Bilbo's ring. He's gone to stay with the Elves. He's left you Bag-End." Said Gandalf, smiling. He then held out an empty envelope for Frodo. After looking at the ring for a second, he put it in the envelope. The wise wizard quickly sealed it with some wax from a near-by candle. "Along with all he's possessions. The ring is yours now." He handed the sealed envelope to Frodo. "Keep it somewhere out of sight." Cautioned the wizard. Getting up, he motioned for Hiryuu to follow him.  
  
Frodo watched as both his old a new friend left. Hiryuu to go collect theirs bags, and Gandalf to wait outside for her. He decided to follow Gandalf.  
  
"Where are you going?" Asked Frodo, with a slightly panicked voice.  
  
"There are some things that I must see to." Said Gandalf, as he deftly made his way to the front door.  
  
"What things?"  
  
"Questions. Questions that need answering." Said Gandalf, picking up his staff  
  
"You've only just arrived!" Surprised that his friend would be leaving so quickly. "I don't understand." He added, as the wizard was about to exit the house.  
  
The old wizard paused after this statement. He turned around to face Frodo, who had a confused look on his face.  
  
"Neither do I." Said the wizard, he then leaned down and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, he added. "Keep I secret. Keep it safe." Knowing that Frodo knew what IT was.  
  
Then, Hiryuu came from the direction of the bedrooms, with hers and Gandalf's bag in check, since they would be leaving the cart here in the hands of Juana. Gandalf nodded to her, then ducked out of the doorway. Hiryuu right behind him, buckling her sword around her waist. Hiryuu gave Frodo one last smile before leaving, silently thanking him for letting them stay here, before closing the door behind her.  
  
"Gandalf, where are we going now? Back to Rivendell?" Asked Hiryuu, as she jogged up to the wizard who was walking at a brisk pace to where he had stabled their horse.  
  
"No Hiryuu, we shall not be going back to Rivendell quite yet. We shall travel together until we get to Bree, then, I shall ride to Minas Tirith, and you, my dear, shall go and bring your father a letter that I shall write to him when we get to Bree. What we will do afterwards shall be decided when it comes." Said Gandalf, as we opened the, thankfully large, door of the Green Dragon's stable. They quickly made their way to the only horse-sized stall (the rest were only for ponies and such) in the entire stable. "Hiryuu, grab the bridle and saddle I bought earlier, while I prepare our young friend here." Said Gandalf, as he opened the stall door and approached the chocolate-brown gelding.  
  
"Yes Gandalf." Said Hiryuu, who went in search of the requested items after putting down their bags beside the stall door. She came back a little while later awkwardly holding the bridle, saddle. 'Why can't he ride like we do at home? I'd be much easier on the horse and myself.' She thought angrily to herself. She also scowled, something she had learnt well from her father when he was angry at his extremely mischievous children, of which he had several, when she saw a glint of amusement in the wizards eye, but wisely decided not to comment on it, since she knew that she was the source of his amusement.  
  
She handed the saddle and bridle to Gandalf without a word, and leaned against the wall, and without a word, crossed her arms.  
  
Chuckling quietly to himself, set started to saddle up the horse, since Hiryuu was clearing not about to do it, having only done it a few times in her life, even then, only in emergencies.  
  
When he was down, he jumped into the saddle with the agility of someone of around twenty. Silently, he motioned for Hiryuu to climb up behind him. Detaching herself from the wall without a word, she climbed into the saddle behind Gandalf. When she was finally seated, she crossed her arms again.  
  
Gandalf just rolled his eyes at her antics, and then, he urged his horse into a gallop, for it was at least a three-day ride to Bree.  
  
Fin of chapter 3  
  
Me: I finished with the third chapter!!!!! (starts dancing around)  
  
Hiryuu: (looks at her as if she's lost her mind) What's up with her?  
  
Elladan: I believe that I know. She got her learners permit yesterday, and her father took her out driving later that day.  
  
Hiryuu: did it go that well?  
  
Elrohir: It went pretty well, she's good at stopping, and keeping a constant speed, but she lacks in the starting department.  
  
Me: Its not my fault! I was driving a manual, AKA stick-shift, and it had a clutch. Next time I think I'll do better, since I'll be using mom's automatic next time!  
  
AN: I would like to that the following two people for their thoughtful reviews;  
  
Crecy, and In the Depp End: Thank you for your reviews! This chapter is for you guys!  
  
PS: I shall be skipping ahead to the part where the Hobbit quartet (Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin) shall be entering Bree. I would also like to say that most of the lines (except for involving around Hiryuu) come directly from the movie! I played the movie and typed it accordingly. I hope you like the result! 


	5. Ch 4 The Prancing Pony

Ch. 4 The Prancing Pony  
  
It was raining that day, it wasn't cheering shower, something that you might enjoy, or a horrible storm, something that makes you wonder how long your roof will hold on. No, this was very depressive rain, the kind that makes you just want to sit down, and do nothing. Or make you run for shelter if you were stuck in it.  
  
And that is exactly what four Hobbits were doing, running for shelter.  
  
"Frodo? What was the name of the Inn Gandalf told us to meet him at?" Asked Pippin, as soon as they had made it past the Gate and it's Keeper.  
  
"I think it was called The Prancing Pony, or something like that." Said Frodo. "So help me look for it."  
  
"Is that it?" Asked Merry, pointing to a sign, a bit of a ways ahead of them. The sign had a white Horse, rearing on it two back legs, underneath were the words; The Prancing Pony.  
  
Frodo looked at it for a minute, then headed inside without a word, followed closely by Sam. The remaining Hobbits looked at each other, shrugged, and hurried inside, anxious to get out of the rain.  
  
As soon as the entered, they were greeted by the sound many people coming from the Inn Common room. And someone in a cloak going up the creaking stairs. After shacking out some of the excess water from their curly hair. The made their to the counter, which reached just above their heads.  
  
"Excuse me." Said Frodo, standing on the tip of his toes, trying to see over the counter. Just then the head of a bearded man appeared over the counter. He looked down, seeing the Hobbits. He then leaned over the counter to get a good look at them.  
  
"Good evening, little masters. You may call Butterbur. " Said the man with a friendly smile. "If your seeking accommodation, we got some cozy Hobbit-sized rooms available. Mister....."  
  
"Underhill. My name's Underhill." Said Frodo after a minute.  
  
"Underhill, yes." Said Butterbur.  
  
"We're friends of Gandalf the Grey. Can you tell him we've arrived?"  
  
"Gandalf? Gandalf. Oh! Yes, I remember. Elderly chap. Big grey beard, pointy hat."  
  
Frodo smiled.  
  
"Not seen him for six months."  
  
The smile vanished as soon as it came. He turned towards his friends, who huddled towards him all at once.  
  
Sam spoke first.  
  
"What do we do now, sir?"  
  
-  
  
What they ended up doing, was sitting at a Man sized table, that could have easily sat four fully grown men. Frodo, Sam, and Merry, were sitting there, nursing their half-pints and each of them thinking about what they were going to do next.  
  
"Sam....he'll be here. He'll come."  
  
Just then, Pippin came back with a large pint.  
  
"What's that?" Asked Merry, looking at the huge drink in the young Hobbits hand.  
  
"This, my friend, is a pint." Said Pippin, taking a drink from his pint.  
  
"It comes in pints?"  
  
The response that came from him sounded vaguely like a yes.  
  
"I'm getting one!" Said Merry, before dashing off to get one.  
  
"But! You've had a whole half already!" Said Sam, trying to stop his friend, but the effort was in vain, since he was already gone.  
  
Sam noticed that Frodo was staring into his cup. He looked around and noticed a man in the corner who had his hood up, and was smoking his pipe too. He was staring at Frodo, as he had done ever since they had arrived at the Inn.  
  
Sam nudged Frodo's elbow and pointed the man out to him.  
  
"That fellow's done nothing but stare at you since we arrived."  
  
Being as discreet as Hobbitly possible, he took a quick glance at the man in question. Just then, Butterbur passed by his table.  
  
"Excuse me." Butterbur looked down and saw that it was on of the Hobbits from earlier, so he leaned down to hear him better. "That Man in the corner. Who is he?" Butterbur took a quick look in the corner, his eyes widened, and focused his attention back on Frodo.  
  
"He's on of them Rangers. They're dangerous folk, wandering the Wilds. What his right name is, I've never heard. But around here he's known as Strider. I saw him talking with another one of them Rangers earlier, but he left for bed just before you came in." And with that he left.  
  
"Strider." Said Frodo, who was currently fingering the ring Bilbo had left him under the table. Pretty soon, he fell into a dream-like state, not yet unconscious, and yet, not fully aware of everything around.  
  
Baggins.  
  
Baggins.  
  
Baggins...  
  
"Baggins? Sure, I know a Baggins." Frodo heard a voice say, it, sounded familiar. He looked up to see his friend, Pippin surrounded by Men at the bar. A pint in hand. Pippin looked and saw that Frodo was looking at him, so he pointed over to him. "He's over there. Frodo Baggins. He's my second cousin, once removed on his mother's side, and my third cousin, twice removed...."  
  
At this point, Frodo, got up and tried to quickly make it over to his foolish friend. No one noticed the stranger in the corner suddenly tense up.  
  
"Pippin!" Said Frodo, grabbing his friends shoulder.  
  
"Steady on, Frodo." Said Pippin, trying to make sure he didn't spill his Pint. He accidentally pushing Frodo back, and making him trip on the persons boot that has behind him. He fell to the floor, his hand opening up and sending the ring into the air, the person in the corner stood a little taller at this.  
  
On the way down, the ring somehow slipped onto Frodo's finger. The people who were looking at the falling Hobbits gasped when he suddenly disappeared. Sam looked, a shocked expression on his face, at Merry who looked at him with the same expression.  
  
-  
  
Frodo looked around, everything was blurry, as if someone had just passed a rag over a dusty mirror, and had only smudged the dust. He looked around frantically, just then, he heard a voice. A creepy voice.  
  
'You cannot hide.'  
  
It seemed as if it was coming from behind him, so he turned.  
  
'I see you.' Said the creepy voice again.  
  
What Frodo saw just then, he would never forget, because right there, was a flaming red eye, who's pupil was shaped like a cats.  
  
Frodo put his hands in front of his face to try and shield himself from the heat it was giving off. He then started to crawl away.  
  
'There is no life in the void. Only death.'  
  
Then, Frodo remembered that the Eye only appeared when the ring fell onto his finger. So as quickly as he could, he tried to pull the ring off, but somehow it seemed to have shrunken, but after giving it only mighty tug, it came off. He looked around and saw that everything was back to normal, and that the Eye was gone as well. He closed eyes and sighed with relief. Then a hand seemed to appear out of nowhere and it roughly grabbed him and started to drag him towards the staircase.  
  
Fin of Ch 3 -  
  
Me: DONE! Finally! It took me quite a while to write this! I'm sorry I took so long to update, it's cause I've been pretty busy. First, I rented a video game, for 3 days, so I had to play it for most of those 3 days, and I also had family over at the same time, then I went camping for a bit!  
  
I would Like to that the Following people:  
  
SilverShadow3, Crecy (again, I might add, don't worry, I like it when people review more than once!) In the Depp End (again, I might add, don't worry, I like it when people review more than once!) frodofreak88 (again, I might add, don't worry, I like it when people review more than once!) 


	6. Ch 5 an Old and New friend

CH.5 An old and new friend  
  
Suddenly, he was slammed into a wall by the staircase. And then Frodo saw that the person that had grabbed him, was the one that Butterbur had called 'Strider'. The one that had been looking at him all night.  
  
"You draw far too much attention to yourself, 'Mr. Underhill'." Whispered the Man, before grabbing him by the shoulders and hauling him upstairs. When they got upstairs, he roughly pushed Frodo into the closets door. Frodo was pushed so roughly that hew barely saw anything from the room, except that it had two separate beds. One of them occupied. He quickly got up and looked at the strange Man.  
  
"What do you want?" Asked Frodo.  
  
"A little more caution from you. That is no trinket you carry." Said Strider, going around the room and quickly pinching out the flame from every candle that had been lit  
  
"I carry nothing." Said Frodo, watching the man warily.  
  
"Indeed." Was all he said. "I can avoid being seen if I wish, But to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift." Said Strider, removing the cloak from his hood. Finally, for the first time that, Frodo saw what the Man looked like. He had shoulder length straggly hair, and a pair of calm grey eyes, and an unshaven face.  
  
"Who are you?" Said Frodo, a tinge of fear in his voice.  
  
Instead of answering Frodo's question, Strider asked one of his own.  
  
"Are you frightened?"  
  
"Yes." Said Frodo after a bit.  
  
"Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you." Just then, he turned around, removing his sword from it's sheath at the same time. Just before the door burst open. And in came the three remaining Hobbits, each armed with 'weapons'. First came Sam with his fist, then Merry with a candelabra, a Pippin with a Hobbit-sized stool.  
  
"Let him Go!" Yelled Sam, shaking his fists. "Or I'll have you, Longshanks."  
  
Strider smiled, glad that it was just Hobbits, and not someone out to kill him. Since there was no threat, he put his sword back in it's sheath.  
  
"You have a stout heart, little Hobbit. But that will not save you."  
  
Just then, a pillow came flying from the bed over by the window and hit Sam square in the face.  
  
"Indeed it won't." Said a voice from where the projectile had originated, a feminine voice, a familiar feminine voice.  
  
As one, all the Hobbits turned to where to voice had come from, and there in the bed, looking VERY angry I might add, was Hiryuu. Dressed in her usual tank-top and breeches. Her hair was a mess to, as if she'd been asleep...  
  
"Do you guys have ANY idea how hard it is to get some sleep around here! First, Strider comes barging through the door with Frodo, and then you guys come barging in here! Next time you guys do that-"  
  
"Enough Hiryuu." Said Strider, looking at his angry, and sleepy, friend.  
  
"Fine." Said a disgruntled Hiryuu, crossing her arms and glaring at everyone in the room. Strider just rolled his eyes at his friends antics, and turned to the Frodo again.  
  
"You can no longer wait for the wizard, Frodo. They're coming."  
  
"What's coming?" Asked Pippin  
  
"The Nazgul." Said Hiryuu. All the Hobbits turned and saw that she was looking out the window. She turned her head and looked at Strider, who nodded his head. She then turned to the four Hobbits. "I think that it'd be best of you brought your things into our room guys. I'll help you gather your things while Strider prepares a place for you all to sleep." She then walked out of the room, and headed towards the wing where the Hobbit rooms were placed, the four Hobbits quickly following her.  
  
-  
  
The room was fairly quiet, with all off the Hobbits asleep. The only ones awake were Strider and Hiryuu. The latter standing watch by the door, and the former looking out the window, from which they had the perfect view of the Hobbits room (I'll just say that the Inn is indented like this . Think of the lines as the walls facing the street, I just hope this isn't TOO confusing), and each was gripping the hilts of their swords with a little more strength than necessary.  
  
Strider watched as he saw several large shapes move in the Hobbits former room. He was absolutely certain that those shapes where Nazgul. Then, he started hearing the sounds of their swords as they started stabbing the pillows and blankets the Hobbits and Hiryuu had used to replace the Hobbits. Then out in the courtyard, he heard their cursed horses rear and neigh. After the noises had finally stopped, all was quite for a bit, and then, they started to shriek their foul language as they discovered that they had been fooled, they started throwing the beds and what-not in their anger.  
  
Unfortunately, their shrieking had caused the Hobbits to wake up. All of the Hobbits looked at Strider.  
  
"What are they?" Asked Frodo, asking the question that burned in each of the Hobbits minds.  
  
Strider turned to look at the frightened Hobbits before them.  
  
"They were once Men. Great kings of Men. Then Sauron the Deceiver gave to them nine rings of power. Blinded by their greed, they took them without question. One by one, falling into darkness." He then turned to watch as the Nazgul climbed onto their cursed steeds and galloped out of Bree.  
  
"Now they are slaves to his will. They are the Nazgul. Ringwraiths. Neither living nor dead. At all times they feel the presence of the Ring, they are drawn to the power of the One. They will never stop hunting you. So long as you have the Ring." Said Hiryuu, from her place against the wall. "Now, my friends, I suggest that you get your sleep, you'll be needing it tomorrow."  
  
"Why? Are we going somewhere?" Asked the ever-naïve Pippin.  
  
"Actually, we are." Said Hiryuu.  
  
Fin of Ch.5  
  
Me: Finally done, this was a BORING chapter, but it had to be done. The only part that I did like, was when Hiryuu threw the pillow at the Hobbits!  
  
Hiryuu: Me too! I thought it was fun.  
  
Pippin: Well I didn't think it was fun.  
  
Merry: Me either  
  
Me: Sorry about that guys, but I had to have had at least a LITTLE bit of Hiryuu involvement. By the way, I'm sorry about how the last chapter turned out, I only noticed something after I had posted it, that it was ALL (well almost) copied from the movie. Now the Hobbits will do the disclaimer, since I still haven't found mine yet.....  
  
Hiryuu backs away slowly from the author.  
  
Me: Oh, and they'll also tell you about a little contest to. Boys?  
  
Merry: Hiryuu owns nothing that came from the mind of the genius, J.R.R. Tolkien.  
  
Pippin: The only thing she does own are the OC's and the plot.  
  
Sam: And Rei and everything about Hiryuu's power comes from the geniuses that created Breath of Fire III.  
  
Pippin: And now for the little contest. The objective is to find out where Hiryuu was in chapter 4.  
  
Sam: Whoever happens to get it right will receive the Honour of having a whole chapter dedicated to him/her. And also, if you would be so kind as to send in your e-mail address with your response, cause the winner gets to have their very own character in this story, mind you, s/he won't play a big part, but that person will becomes Hiryuu's best friend! If you win, the author will send an e-mail to you, requesting basic info about your character.  
  
Merry: And yes, Hiryuu IS in ch.4, you just have to look very closely, her name isn't mentioned.  
  
Pippin: Good Luck! 


	7. Just Walking, Talking, and Second Breakf...

Ch.6 Just Walking, Talking, and Second Breakfast

The next day found the four Hobbits, Bill the pony, Strider, and Hiryuu (dressed as a Ranger – to hide her femininity), walking up the steep hill just outside of Bree. Strider was leading the Hobbits, while Hiryuu was making sure they didn't lag behind.

"Where are you taking us?" Asked Frodo.

"Into the Wild." Was the only response he got from the Ranger.

"How do we know this Strider is a friend of Gandalf?" Asked Pippin, getting a little bit suspicious.

"We have no choice but to trust him, Pippin. Besides, he's a friend of Hiryuu's, and I think we can trust her, at the very least." Said Frodo

"But where is he leading us?" Asked Sam, leading Bill.

"To Rivendell, Master Gamgee. To the house of Elrond."

"Did you here that?! Rivendell! We're Going to see the Elves!" Said Sam, sounding very excited at the prospect of seeing Elves up close.

"I can't wait to get there!" Said Hiryuu speaking for the first time that day.

"Have you ever been there, Miss. Hiryuu?" Asked Sam.

"Of course! I grew up there! I can't wait to sleep in a real bed though. That Inn bed was comfortable enough I guess, at least it's better than the ground at least!"

"How long will it take us to reach Rivendell?"

"It depends, but right now, our target is Weathertop, which is about half a week away from here. From there, we'll make our way to the Ford, which will take about two weeks, and then it's only a two-day walk to reach Rivendell. Of course, it all depends on the weather." (Just so you know, I have NO clue how long it took them, it only says so in the books, and I have read them in a LONG time.)

Strider looked up at the sky, and saw that it was nearing sunset. He turned to look at the Hobbits and Hiryuu.

"We'll camp here for tonight. Hobbits, you get the meal started. And remember what I told you about keeping your fires small, and put it out after your done! Hiryuu, can I please have a word with you?" He looked at the Hobbits. "In private."

Hiryuu looked up at him from where she had sat down.

"Sure." She got up and walked up to him. Together they walked out of ear-shot of the Hobbits, but not out of their eye-sight.

Frodo looked on in curiosity as the two had their discussion. Strider asked Hiryuu a question, to which she just nodded her head in response. She looked to the west then said something to him, his then flickered to where the Hobbits were cooking their food, then the went back to Hiryuu, it happened almost to fast for the average person to see, that Frodo thought he'd imagined it for a bit.

"Hey. Mr. Frodo, supper's ready." Said Sam, waving a plate of food in front of his nose. As soon as he saw the food in front of his face. He made a grab for it, since he was very hungry, because he hadn't gotten his usual six-meals for the past few weeks. What with Strider and Hiryuu letting them only have a, SMALL, cold meal to break their fast (very old-fashioned name for breakfast, for those of you wondering) and an even SMALLER supper, which, thankfully, was usually warm. But, unfortunately, either Strider or Hiryuu, would stomp out the flames and then precede to make sure that whatever traces of the fire they did have going would disappear completely.

It wasn't the lack of fire, though, that made the Hobbits a bit unhappy. No, it was the lack of FOOD. But they had long since given up asking to stop a their usual mealtimes, especially since they didn't want a repeat of the first time.

Flash back

They had been walking for about two days now. And Strider was leading them as usual, but sometime the night before, Hiryuu had left their camp in the dead of night. Strider had said the next morning that she had gone to make sure that they weren't being followed by anyone.

So at about 9:30, HST (Hobbit Stomach Time), their stomachs said that it was time for . And Hobbits, being the easy-going fellows that they are. Just stopped and started preparing their food. Strider, sensing that the Hobbits had stopped, turned and faced the Hobbits.

"Gentlemen, we do not stop until nightfall." Said Strider.

"What about breakfast." Said Pippin.

"You've already had it."

"We've had one yes. What about second breakfast?"

At this Strider just shock his head and continued walked, he knew for a fact that the Hobbits would follow him, since only he could ever lead them out.

"Don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip." Said an unhappy Merry, putting away his cooking things.

"What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner?

At this Strider just shock his head and continued walked, he knew for a fact that the Hobbits would follow him, since only he could ever lead them out.

"Don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip." Said an unhappy Merry, putting away his cooking things.

"What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?" Said a now worried Pippin (sure only he would be more worried about food than those Black Riders behind him).

"I wouldn't count on it." Said Merry, and he looked up just in time to see an apple flying at his head, he quickly caught it before it hit him. He looked at it, then handed it to Pippin, before taking off after Strider, but Pippin, unfortunately, wasn't fast enough to catch the next one, which hit him square in the head.

"Oh Pippin. Only you would be more concerned with food, than about what could be following us." Said a familiar voice. Pippin looked up and saw that it was Hiryuu, who was currently eating an apple. She smiled at the Hobbits, then turned to follow Strider.

Frodo and Sam just laughed a bit at their friends antics.

End Flashback

Frodo chuckled a bit at the memory, it was one of many happy memories that he had of his fellow Hobbits and Hiryuu. This little trip to Rivendell was wearing away at their usually cheerful spirits. But, somehow, Hiryuu was always getting them to laugh, whether it asking questions about what their life in Hobbiton was like at night. Which would usually get them all started on funny stories, or by asking if they had any jokes to tell (which they did), that usually made them all end up going to bed with a smile on their faces, even Strider. Speaking of Strider, Frodo looked around and saw that said Ranger was quietly eating his food. But Hiryuu, was now where to be seen, the only evidence that proved she was ever there, was her empty plate.

"Strider, where's Hiryuu?" Asked Frodo.

Sam, wondering what his master was talking about, looked around and saw that, indeed, Hiryuu was nowhere to be seen

"She went to scout ahead Frodo. Don't worry, she'll be back before dawn." Said Strider, seeing the worried looks on all of the Hobbits faces. Just then, there was a loud screeching sound. The sound that only a Nazgul would make. Which was quickly followed by a fierce roar.

Fin of Ch.6

-

Me: Finally done! Sorry it took so long to type this, it's cause I had a hard time writing this chapter, I hope you like it. By the way. The Contest is closed. The winner is Crecy! Congrats on your win. Your prize is as follows: A whole chapter dedicated to you (this one), and your very one OC in my story, along with one that I forgot to mention, your OC gets a place of honour in the AN! Along with Hiryuu, Elladan, Elrohir, and Myself!

Crecy: Yeah!

Me: Welcome to the office!

Elladan: You call this an Office?

Elrohir: I call it a broom closet.

Me: ...Excuse me?

Hiryuu: You have to admit, it IS very small. Just look around

Me: -Looks around and sees that the room is very crowded, it being 5 feet by 5 feet- I guess your right...It's not my fault though, my parents would only let me have this small room in our house, at least she let us have a mini fridge in here. –Goes and takes out a small can of Pepsi-

Crecy: Why is everything so small –points at the mini desk, mini chair, mini window, etc-

Elladan: Budget

Crecy: Ah. Of course.

Everyone: See you nest chapter!


	8. Nothing to worry about yet

CH.7 Nothing to worry about……….yet

At the sound of the roar, Strider had quickly drawn his sword. He was about to run off towards the noise, but remembered the Hobbits. He looked at them, quietly deciding what to do with them. Take them with him, and know that they are being protected, and having a few of Hiryuu's extremely well protected secrets revealed, or leave them here, to defend themselves, and not know if they're safe or not, and keep the aforementioned secrets safe. Finally he decided to let them do what they wanted.

Frodo and gang, seeing Strider rush off into the woods decided to follow him, they had a little difficulty, since he was faster than them, but they were able to keep him in their sites.

"Strider! Wait up!" Yelled both Merry and Pippin. Both Frodo and Sam kept quiet, knowing that it would be useless to try and talk to the running Ranger, but they still followed their guide.

It seemed that the further they went, the louder the roars got and if they listened close enough, they could just make out the neighing of a horse, and the clash of steel against steel. Finally, after running for a few more minutes, the noises stopped abruptly.

Strider stopped for barely a second before continuing. The Hobbits, meanwhile, stopped so suddenly, that the result was a huge pile-up. Merry and Pippin on the bottom. They quickly got up, but not fast enough, because they had lost sight if Strider.

Seeing that they had lost sight of their guide, the Hobbits wisely decided to stay put and stay quiet. Who know what was out there?

After several minutes of intense silence, something extremely rare with Hobbits involved, Frodo heard something coming closer. It sounded like heavy footsteps, the Hobbits instinctively huddled closer together, looking fearfully at the place were the sound was coming from.

Out from the shadows that the trees were creating, they saw one wide shadow, moving awkwardly, at a slow are fairly unstable pace. Just then, a small gust of wind blew by and moved the shadow that was moving towards them, only to be revealed as Strider, with a tired looking Hiryuu hanging onto him.

"Hey there Hobbits!" She said weakly as she and Strider slowly make their way closer.

"Hiryuu! We were SO worried about you!" Said Merry and Pippin in sync.

Both humans, ignored them as Strider took off his dirt encrusted cloak and placed it on the ground a bit awkwardly, since he had to hold Hiryuu up with one shoulder, but somehow managed it.

"Hobbits, go and get our things from camp and bring them here. I fear we won't be moving far this night." Ordered Strider. Immediately Merry and Pippin went without hesitation. Surprisingly enough, Sam followed them, mostly to make sure they didn't forget anything. Like his pots, and to put out the fire.

Frodo decided to stay with Hiryuu. Though he regretted it once he saw her wound. He didn't see much, but what he saw was enough to make him slightly nauseous. He thanked the Valar that Strider was there to take care of it.

From what he saw, she had a fairly deep cut in her right thigh, which was bleeding pretty badly. She also had a smaller, but no less ugly, cut on her stomach.

By this point, Frodo was feeling VERY sick. Luckily, Sam and the other Hobbits arrived at that very minute.

"One of you pass me some water, bandages, and my sack, and the rest of you be quiet while I tend to her wounds. After that, you may talk amongst yourselves, _quietly._" Said Strider, stressing the word quietly.

Sam was the one voted to get the requested items from where they dumped all of their belongings. And as soon he had done that, he came rushing back to where the others where.

As soon as he left Hiryuu and Strider started talking in hushed tones, in Elvish no less. The Hobbits, completely confused, looked towards Frodo. Mainly because all of them knew that Frodo had learned Elvish from his uncle Bilbo.

He just looked at them and shook his head.

"Don't look at me. I may know _some _Elvish, but that doesn't make me fluent in it. I only know a few words like brother and sister, and besides, they're talking to low for me to here them!" They where quiet for the next while.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Strider left Hiryuu and went to the Hobbits. He was immediately bombarded by questions such as; 'What happened!' 'Is she alright?' And other such questions.

After a few seconds of this, Strider got fed up.

"Quiet!"

Immediately they were all silent.

"I'll tell you, but you must be _silent_. She's sleeping right now, I don't want _any _of you to wake her up." He was met with silence. "Apparently, while she was scouting, she met up with a few Orcs. Don't worry, they were all dead, and Hiryuu is doing just fine, a night of rest and she'll be ready to go." And with that, he got up and walked to where Hiryuu was sleeping, comfortably wrapped up in her cloak and bedroll, as well as Striders' cloak and bedroll.

-Fin of Ch7

Authors Note;

Gin; I am SOOOOOOOO sorry I haven't updated, but, I had a good reason. You see, I went into a depression, mainly because my dog, one I've have for 11 years I might add, was put to sleep, a bit after he attacked me.

Pippin; It's ok Gin, I'm sure the reviewers will forgive you……….as long as you update a lot in the next few weeks.

Gin; I will I promise! Scouts honour!

Merry; An trust us, she really is a scout!

BTW; The author would like to thank the following people; Crecy, for your support, legolasfan91, pappy, BloodyPenhand (twice, I might add thank you so much!), as well as Samantha for your wonderful e-mail!


	9. CH 8 The great watchtower of Amon Sûl

CH 8 The great watchtower of Amon Sûl

The next day, Strider woke them a bit later than usual. Instead of waking the Hobbits up about an hour before the false dawn, he woke them up an hour after the sun had risen, not that they could actually see it because it was so gloomy. They also finally left the forest, and entered a very hilly part of the countryside.

The Hobbits noticed that Strider had left Hiryuu to sleep while he cooked breakfast, only waking her after he had finished cooking. Afterwards they left camp. The Hobbits continued to be silent all throughout the morning, this didn't go unnoticed by Hiryuu. Finally after another hour of silence, Hiryuu got fed up.

"Oï, Hobbits. You guys alright? Your so quiet today! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you'd gone and died on me!" Said the young girl, turning her head to look at the people in question.

"Nothings wrong, Miss. Hiryuu. We were just worried, what with you being wounded and all…" Said Sam.

"Oh Sam. Just because your worried about me, doesn't mean that you have to keep quiet. After all, my father has stated on **many** occasions that laughter is some of the best medicine that exists! So, how about you all tell stories about where you came from, and about each other! I'll also give however tells me the funniest story today the apple I have left over!"

This got them all talking, at the same time, unfortunately. They kept on wanting to tell their stories first, finally, after a few fights (mostly between Merry and Pippin) Hiryuu came up with a system of who would go first.

So, for the next couple of hours, everyone was laughing, even Strider joined in on a particularly funny stories involving the four of them, and a broken carrot (this one came from the first movie, from when they all went tumbling down the hill, and one of them said they broke something, and takes out a carrot from under him).

That night, the apple was awarded to Sam, for the broken carrot story.

"Strider, how far are we from Rivendell?" Asked Frodo that night.

"Well, tomorrow, we reach the watchtower of Amon Sûl, after that, it's about two and a half weeks to get to Rivendell, less if we make good time." Said Strider, after taking a long puff from his pipe and staring into the small fire Hiryuu had lit earlier.

"We reach Amon Sûl tomorrow? That's great!" Said Hiryuu suddenly.

The next morning, Strider got them back up on the wake-up-an-hour-before-the-predawn routine again. Not that anyone complained it. Once again, the sky was clouded over.

The hobbits kept on looking up, expecting to see rain pour down on them at any second.

Finally, Strider stopped and pointed to a large hill they were headed towards. "The great watchtower of Amon Sûl. We shall rest here tonight."

After climbing halfway up the large tower. Sometimes using old, worn-down steps, and at some places where the steps had been worn down so much, climbing the walls. Lets just say that by the time they (the Hobbits) had reached the half-way point, they were exhausted, and after begging Strider, they were able to stop.

Frodo gratefully put his heavy bag beside the others and leaned back against a wall while Strider and Hiryuu looked out in the distance.

Finally, after a couple of minutes, Strider took something from out of his bag and placed it in front of the Hobbits. He moved aside the clothes to reveal four long daggers, that, in a Hobbits hand, would be the equivalent of a sword.

He tossed one to each Hobbit. "These are for you. Keep them close. We're going to have a look around. Stay here." He said, as each of them removed the sword (dagger) from their sheath and looking at them curiously.

He then left them to fend for themselves. Hiryuu hot on his heels. It went unnoticed to all except Frodo that Both Strider and Hiryuu had a tight grip on the hilt of their respectful swords. But he wisely decided to keep this observation to himself. After all, he didn't want to worry Sam. Well, not anymore than he already was, anyway.

He then laid down and tried to sleep for a bit.

He woke up several hours later to the small of cooking food, as well as a loud exclamation of; 'My tomato's burst! Probably made by either Merry or Pippin. That Frodo was his mind came agonizingly slow out of unconsciousness.

"Can I have some bacon?" Came Merrys voice.

The next thing he noticed was the cracking of wood in a fire. Slowly, his thoughts began to come more swiftly as he became more and more awake.

"Want a tomato, Sam?" Said Pippin.

Frodo turned over quickly as his mind came to a conclusion. He turned and saw Merry, Pippin and Sam, surrounding a small cook fire, eating their first hot meal in a while.

"What are you doing!" He exclaimed as he quickly rose to his feet.

Merry turned to look at him and used his forked as a pointer. "Tomatoes, sausages, and nice crispy bacon."

Sam held out a plate of warm food as Frodo lurched to his feet and quickly ran towards the fire.

"We saved some for you, Mr. Frodo."

Frodo ignored the food and quickly began stomping on the flames.

"Put it out, you fools! Put it out!"

"That's nice! Ashes on my tomatoes!" Yelled Merry as a bunch of ashes landed on all of the food.

Suddenly, all thoughts of food was banished from their minds as a loud screeching, about 100 times worse than nails on a chalk-board, was heard from somewhere at the bottom of the watchtower.

Frodo quickly rushed to the edge and looked down. He was quickly copied by the others. What they saw, they would never forget for the rest of their lives. For coming out of the mist that had gathered at the bottom, were five tall figures, all cloaked in black.

"Go!" Yelled Frodo, as he drew his sword out.

Quickly, they all started to run up to the top of the tower via a staircase beside their bags.

After they had reached the top, Sam, Merry and Pippin formed a circle around Frodo, and looked about widely for any sign of Nazgûl. In the dark of the night, everything to the Hobbits looked like Wraiths in the shadows, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Everything, from the broken statures that lined the top, to the dead trees.

Frodo looked behind him as the others looked in other directions.

From out of the darkness, he saw one, the only sound it made was the clinking of the metal on it's gauntlets as it gripped the hilt of it's sword. Then, with a too-well practised ease. It drew it's long sword, and raised it to it's face, as if saluting him.

Frodo immediately started backing away from the terrifying sight, pushing past Sam and Pippin, who turned to see the frightening sight. Another look around showed them the same thing four more times, as the wraiths slowly advanced on them, as if they all shared the same mind and thoughts.

Merry, Pippin, and Sam, also began to back away, and stood in front of Frodo. Acting like a living barrier.

Slowly, the Wraiths began to raise their swords in, always acting as one, as if they were about to skewer the Hobbits. Which they might have done, if Sam had not courageously launched himself at one of them with a loud cry of; "Back, you devils!"

He immediately began to swing his sword wildly, in an attempt to hit it. But the Wraith was to experienced in fighting, and quickly tossed to Hobbit aside. He was thrown with such force, that, when he landed, he lost consciousness.

Merry and Pippin immediately placed themselves side-by-side to close the gap that Sam's departure had made. But it was all in vain, for they were just as easily, if easier, brushed aside like rag dolls. Living a terrified Frodo unguarded.

Frodo was so scared at that instant, that he dropped his sword and hurriedly began walking backwards. Unfortunately, we all know what happens when a person does that. With a small cry of surprise, he fell onto his back.

As he started crawling backwards in fear, he could've sworn that the Ring was calling out to him in some form of Elvish.

Then, as if he was hypnotized by the Ring, he slowly removed it from his pocket. When he drew it out, he barely noticed that the voice had grown louder. All he noticed was that one of the Wraiths had turned it's gaze onto the ring.

Leaving behind it the other Wraiths, this one quickly advanced upon the terrified Hobbit, it also drew a nasty looking dagger.

"HAAA! GET BACK!" Came a loud voice, as another shadow jumped over Frodo's head and parried the daggers blade with a longer, cleaner blade. As this new shadow fought the advancing wraith, Frodo noticed that the other four had started advancing on him while his as of yet unknown defender was occupied with one.

_CLANG, CLANG! _Went the sounds of the two swords hitting one another, both fighting for dominance, yet never getting an inch off the other.

Quickly moving behind his defender, Frodo tightly gripped the ring in his fist.

"Frodo, you alright?" Said a familiar voice.

"H-Hiryuu?" Stuttered Frodo.

"You were expecting someone else? Well, doesn't matter if you were. Listen Frodo, I can't keep this up forever, so I need you to get away from here, got it?" Said Hiryuu. Frodo looked carefully at the fighting pair and saw that Hiryuu was losing ground.

"Alright…" Said Frodo, as he looked at his ring. Silently he made his decision to put the ring on, after all, they couldn't catch him if they couldn't see him, right?

As soon as he put it on, Frodo was once again enveloped in a familiar world, where everything was foggy, but six figures stood out like a full moon on a cloud-less night.

Five of them looked like men, almost. For, instead of eyes, all they had were dark holes, that seemed to suck out all good emotions from the air itself. They also had jagged and broken crowns on their heads. Their faces were as pale as can be, and the skin was pulled _tightly_ across their face and their hands looked like skeletons than actual hands. They each had on long robes that twirl around them in an invisible wind, and, like everything else in this weird place, they were foggy, as if he was looking at them through poorly made glass. Each of them was surrounded by a silvery nimbus that appeared to make them glow.

While the first five where hard to make out, the sixth one appeared as clear as day, untouched by the invisible winds and whatever it was that made the people in the real world look like shadows, was Hiryuu. Except this Hiryuu had bat-like wings coming out of her back, and whenever she swung her sword at the opponent, it looked as if the image of a fierce dragon would superimpose itself on Gem, making the sword look like the head and neck of the fierce beast, and Hiryuu's body looked like the body of a dragon.

Fin of Ch 8-

Gin; There! You guys happy now? This is my longest chapter yet!

Everyone; NO! You left us with a cliff-hanger!

Gin: Sweat-drops Yeah….Sorry about that, but I figured that I'd get a LOT more reviews if I did a cliff-hanger. After all, more reviews more inspiration for me to write! (hint, hint, wink, wink)

The author would like to take the time to thank the following reviewers; BloodyPenhand, Absolutly Redonculas.

BTW; you a few of you guys sort of freaked me out a bit, cause you reviewed so _quickly_ after I had updated! Did you add my to your favourites of something? Well, if you did, that certainly made me glad! Keep sending me reviews, and I'll keep giving you chapters!


	10. Ch 9 Injuries on Amun Sûl

Ch. 9 Injury on Amon Sûl

Frodo just stared in awe as Hiryuu fought, every stroke of her sword was graceful, every step she took, looked as if she was dancing. He was so concentrated on her, that he didn't see one of the Wraiths get by her. He only noticed it when the Wraith itself was practically on him.

Fearfully, Frodo tore his gaze from the fighting Hiryuu, to the ghostly Wraith towering above him (not that is wasn't all that had to do). Slowly, the Wraith brought its skeletal hand towards him, trying to get the ring that was currently around Frodo's finger.

Frodo immediately drew his hand away in fear. Seeing his reaction, the Wraith drew his own, pale hand and grabbed a dagger that was hanging by his sword, and thrust it into the scared Hobbits shoulder, just inches above his heart.

Frodo cried out in agony, as his shoulder was flooded with the came that was seeping from the tainted dagger. Once again, the Wraith tried to grab the ring from Frodo's finger, but in his hazy state of mind, Frodo was just able to hear a voice cry out. Then suddenly, most of the pain from his shoulder vanished, as the dagger was swiftly removed.

The injured Hobbit was barely able to register a dark shadow flying over him, swinging an equally shadowed blade in one hand, and a blazing torch in the other. He didn't concentrate on the shadow that was attacking the blinding Wraiths though, because the sensible part of his mind, the part that had fled after Sam had been tossed aside, came back, and told him to remove the ring. Now. He immediately complied and removed the gold object.

As soon as he became visible, he let out the cry of pain he had been holding in. Sam, hearing his masters cry, ran to his side.

"Frodo!" He yelled, forgetting all etiquette at the sight of his friends pain.

Meanwhile, Strider and Hiryuu were still fighting the Nazgûl, although it was more equal now, with Hiryuu taking on to of them instead of five, and Strider taking on three, since he had the only torch.

Indeed, it seemed as if the Wraiths were more afraid of the fire, than the two deadly blades that danced among them, for whenever Strider swung his torch, they would back away, s if scared by the flame. Finally, Strider managed to get the two that were ganging up of Hiryuu on fire, they continued to fight, ignoring the screeching their enemies were making as they tried to put the ever-hungry fire out. Immediately, they withdrew and fled, still screeching. Hiryuu and Strider then concentrated on the other three.

The three wraiths, seeing their comrades go up in flame, fled as well, but not before Strider threw his torch into one the wraiths 'faces'.

As soon as they were all gone, Strider put his sword back into his sheath, as did Hiryuu, as they both made their way towards Frodo. While they had been occupied with the fight, it seems that Merry and Pippin had made their way to their injured comrade.

"Strider!" Sam called out, fearing for his friend.

Strider, seeing that the injury might be worse than he thought, hurried the last final steps and knelt down beside Frodo. Hiryuu, meanwhile, kept her distance and watched, panting slightly.

"Help him, Strider." Said Sam pitifully, holding Frodo's hand in both his own.

Strider quickly looked at the wound and then saw the blade that had done this to him, laying beside him. He picked up the blade and sighed as the blade of the weapon turn to dust. He threw the useless hilt to the ground.

"He's been stabbed by a Morgul blade." Once again, Frodo cried out in pain. "This is beyond my skill to heal. He needs Elvish medicine." Quickly, he picked up the Hobbit and ignored his cries of pain. He passed by Hiryuu without giving her a glance, and headed down the path the Hobbit's had used to get up there in the first place. He was quickly followed by the rest of the Hobbit's, and finally, Hiryuu, although her eyes were downcast, she was not so quick to follow the hobbit's.

So, they half-walked, half-ran for the rest of the night, with Strider in the rear, carrying Frodo over his shoulder, wrapped up in Striders cloak to try to buffer the pain from all the jolts he was sure to get. Strider also carried a torch in his other hand, in case a Wraith attacked. He was on constant alert, swinging his head from side to side, catching every single detail around him. If he was going to be attacked, he'd rather have at least a couple of seconds of warning. After all, in a battle, seconds could mean all the difference between life and death.

"Hurry!" He yelled to those behind him. Immediately behind him were Merry, Pippin, and Sam, who was dragging Bill the Pony. Hiryuu took up the rear, torch in hand. Keeping a sharp eye out for any signs of an enemy attack.

"We're six days from Rivendell! He'll never make it!" Yelled Sam.

Strider ignored the Hobbits words, and spoke quietly to Frodo.

"Hold on Frodo."

In the haze of pain, Frodo called upon one of the people he had always counted upon all his life. The one person he knew would always keep him from harm.

"Gandalf!"

Fin of Chapter 9

**Me**; Sorry for the lateness & shortness of this chapter, but I felt that I had to get an update ASAP, but don't worry, I'll try to get another chapter up today! Even if it kills me!

**Hiryuu;** I hope it doesn't cause if it does, there'll be no more updates!

**ME; **BTW I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but I'm a very busy person. I have Curling EVERY Monday, and when I get back, my arms are usually killing me, Wednesdays and Fridays I have swimming, so that leaves only Tuesdays and Thursdays, along with the weekend to write. Also, I often baby-sit on Saturday evenings/ Sunday Mornings. And we mustn't forget that essay I got for both History AND English.

**Hiryuu; **Wow, you are busy! I know, but next week I'm getting a four day Holiday for Easter, and I plan to do NOTHING but write this fic. I hope this is alright with everyone?

**Me; **I would like to thank the following people for reviewing; crazycatluver and BloodyPenhand

**Hiryuu;** PS Just so you know, it's the authors birthday on the 31st, maybe if enough people wish her a happy b-day, she'll put up a chapter or two as her gift to you!


	11. Ch 10 Help Comes………with Bells?

Ch 10 Help Comes……….with Bells?

Finally, after running for several days, they came across a bridge, spanning across a rather fast-flowing river. 'Known as the river Hoarwell, the Elves call it Mitheithel.' Said Hiryuu as they neared it. Before he left anyone cross it, he ordered the Hobbits, while he looked around the bridge to look for any signs that someone had passed by there. Not even Hiryuu was aloud to go with him, he forced her to hides with the Hobbits, and to watch Frodo while he was gone.

Pressing a skin of water to Frodo, Hiryuu tried to get the Hobbit to at least drink a little.

"Come one Frodo, just a little bit. There, that's good." Urged Hiryuu, as Frodo managed to gulp down at least a little bit of water. The wound on his shoulder had not gotten any better in the last few hours. If anything, it had gotten worse, but there was nothing that they could do about it, except try to get to Rivendell faster.

In the last several hours, the wound hadn't bled all that much for some, but the area around it had gone very pale, and cold. Frodo was also having a hard time breathing. He wasn't able to keep any food down, which the Hobbits, for some reason, took this as a bad sign. The only thing that he had managed to keep was the little bit of water Hiryuu and Strider gave him whenever they had to take a break to look on the wounds.

Hiryuu tsk'ed as she put the cork back onto the skin, lest they loose any of their already low supply of water.

"What's wrong, Hiryuu?" Asked Pippin innocently. "Is it about Frodo?"

Hiryuu froze at the question, thought it over a bit, then finished putting the water into her bag before sighing tiredly.

"Yes, it is. I'm afraid that if we don't get Frodo to the Elves soon. He…..might not make it. I'm surprised he's still alive. I know many stronger men than him that would be worse than dead in his position. But I guess what Mahoutsukai said was true." Said the girl sitting down crossed-legged beside Frodo. The last part was more to herself than to the curious Hobbits.

"Excuse me, but who's Maho- Maouhst, err, that person you were talking about?" Asked Pippin, tripping over the new word several times. Unfortunately, Hiryuu hadn't heard a word he had said, mainly because Hiryuu was concentrating on something else.

"Shhh, someone's coming. You guys better hide." Cautioned Hiryuu, as she gathered up Frodo into her arms. "Sam, grab me things. Now Hobbits!" Was all she said before she practically disappeared into the shadows of the trees, the only sound coming from her was from the groans that came from Frodo.

Quickly picking up everything, the Hobbit's quickly ran after her. They found her waiting under a bush, not to far from the road. She was so well hidden, in fact, that they might have missed her had she not spoken to them.

"Hobbits! Down here! Quietly! I don't want you loud mouths attracting any unwanted attention!"

The Hobbits, a little frightened at her change in moods these past days, immediately obeyed and crawled under the bush with her, and started watching the road.

Finally, after several tense minutes, they saw someone heading their way, coming from the direction of the bridge. As it came up close to their hiding place, it looked around.

"Hiryuu? Are you there?" It was Strider.

"Right here, gwador." Said Hiryuu, as she got up.

Strider walked up to them and carefully picked Frodo up. "I just finished scouting the bridge, I didn't see any foot prints, or hoof prints, but I can tell that it rained sometime in the past two days. So we know that if anything did cross the bridge, they are at least two days ahead of us, maybe more. I also found something strange." He then held out his hand to reveal a single pale-green jewel.

"I found it in the mud in the middle of the bridge. It's a beryl, an Elf-stone. Whether it was set there, or fell by chance, I cannot say; but it brings hope to me. I will take it as a sign that we may pass the bridge; but beyond that we should not keep to the road, without some clearer token."

With that, he quickly crossed the bridge. In the same order as before, although Hiryuu had a grip that was tighter than necessary on her fox-head sword. Several hours down the road, Strider took them off the well beaten path, and into the forest. He took them onto a path that seemingly only Strider could see. They were also in an excellent position to see anyone coming down the road, but that same person wouldn't be able to see them. Unless of course somebody (read; Hobbits) made a noise to reveal them.

Of course, just cause they could see the road, did not make the fact that the woods around them weren't creeping out the Hobbits half to death, not only was the forest scaring them, but sometimes they would pass by half-broken towers that had long-since been claimed by vines and weeds. Oddly enough, all of them were reminded of Bilbo's adventure, the part where he met the Trolls and was almost eaten, had it not been for Gandalf.

"Who lives in this land?" Asked Pippin, ever curious, "And who built these towers? Is this Troll-country?"

"No! Trolls do not build. No one lives in this land. Men once dwelt here, ages ago; but none remain now. They became an evil people, as legends tell, for they fell under the shadow of Angmar. But all were destroyed in the war that brought the North Kingdom to it's end. But that is now so long ago that the hills have forgotten them, though a shadow still lies on the land." Said Strider, as always keeping a sharp eye out for anything.

"Where did you learn such tales, if all the land is empty and forgotten? Surely the birds and beasts do not tell tales of that sort."

"The heirs of Elendil do not forget all things past, and many more things I can tell are remembered in Rivendell."

"Have you two often been to Rivendell?" Asked Merry, now curious. Sam was also listening closely. After all, he wanted to know many things about Elves, and if they were going to an Elven Kingdom, he wanted to learn about it too. Hiryuu meanwhile, was still watching the back, although from time-to-time she would cast a long glance at the general area behind them, but then she would shake her head, as if to get rid of some unwanted thought, and would scan the surrounding area once again.

"We have. I dwelt there once, and Hiryuu dwells there still, and still I return when I may. There my heart is; but it is not my fate to sit in peace, even in the fair house of Elrond."

"You mean to tell me, both you AND Hiryuu live among Elves!" Said Sam.

"Yes."

"How? Well, what I mean to say is; how did to humans end up living with Elves?" Asked Merry.

"I'm afraid it is a long and sad tale, for both of us. Now is not the time for the telling of stories. If you wish, maybe we'll be able to tell them in Rivendell."

After that, the Hobbits kept quite.

That's pretty much how things went for the next several days. They would walk, finally, one of the Hobbits would ask a question about Elves, and Strider would try his best to answer them. Although the Hobbits would have preferred it if Hiryuu would have spoken to them, but that wasn't possible, since she was often awake before them, and usually left before they had awakened, either to make sure they weren't being followed, or scouting ahead. Often, after the Hobbits had fallen asleep, Strider would say something to her, in Elvish as they always did when they were speaking to each other. But Hiryuu would often turn away angrily, and say something back, and it would go that way for several minutes. Eventually, Hiryuu would seek refuge in her bedroll. In all that time, she barely spoke a word to the saddened Hobbits.

When asked about Hiryuu's change of mood, from the happy-go-lucky girl they met in Hobbiton, to the surly young woman she was now. Strider would respond with a simple; 'She'll tell you when the time is right.'

Finally, after several days, they all heard a sound that they all dreaded. The horse of hoofs behind them. Quickly, all of them, even Hiryuu who had decided to stay with them that morning, hid under a bush that overlooked the road. All were quiet, even Frodo, who hadn't gotten any better in all that time. Even the _Athelas_ that Hiryuu had found and brought one day hadn't done much but ease some of his pain.

Quickly, the sound of hoofs drew nearer. They were going fast, with a light _clippety-clippety-clip_. Then, slowly, they began to hear the light jingling of bells.

"Bells?" Mouthed Sam to his fellow Hobbits. Both shrugged. It seemed **VERY** unlikely that the dark riders had taken to put bells on their mounts, but they each had been in fear of being followed that they all held a more-than-healthy amount of suspicion. Only Hiryuu and Strider reacted differently. Hiryuu smiled for the first time in days, and Strider smiled for what seemed to be the first time ever.

All to soon, the _clippety-clippety-clip_ got closer and closer. Suddenly around the bend in the road behind them, came a white horse, and on riding him was a fair-haired man, who, on closer inspection from the Hobbits, they could see he was in fact, an Elf. The pointy ears were a dead give away. That, and what he said as both Hiryuu and Strider jumped up from their hiding place with great cries.

"_Glorfindel! Mae govannen! __Glorfindel!_ " Well, actually it was only Hiryuu shouting. Stopping his horse suddenly at the cry, he turned and saw Hiryuu and Strider rushing off to greet him. Hiryuu in the lead.

"_Aina vedui Dùnadan! Hiryuu! Mae govannen!_ " Said the mysterious rider as he dismounted and swept Hiryuu into a hug as she took a flying leap at him. Strider arrived a little later, in a more…….dignified manner. If the ears weren't a give-away, then the way he spoke sure was. No others that dealt in the wide world had voices so fair to hear.

It was obvious that between the Striders and Hiryuu's reaction it was safe to say that help had come, on a horse with bells.

Fin of CH. 10

**Me**: Here you go! Next chapter up! Ain't I nice? BTW, just so you know, I'm taking almost NO credit WHAT SO EVER for most of what is said in this chapter, mainly because most of it comes directly from the first book, only tweaked a bit to fit in Hiryuu.

**Hiryuu;** Just so you know, Ginnitsune purposefully left out what Hiryuu and Strider were saying, you should find out in the next chapter, two or three at the latest.

**Me;** Unfortunately, I have no reviewers to thank today, I think it's mainly because I posted the last chapter yesterday?

**Hiryuu;** That's probably it.


	12. Ch 11 Women

Ch. 11 How to get a woman mad

After swinging the young teen around, the blond-haired Elf gently put Hiryuu down, and gently embraced. While they were doing that, Hiryuu waved to the Hobbits.

"Oï! Hobbits! You can come down now! I want to introduce you to someone! Bring down our things too please!" She shouted.

Needing no more encouragement, Merry and Pippin grabbed all the bags and Sam picked up the injured Frodo, they then started running towards the trio.

"Guys, this is my fathers advisor, Glorfindel. Glorfindel, these are the Hobbits that Gandalf told us about! This is Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin." Said the bouncing girl.

"It's nice to meet you, however we must save the pleasantries for later. I am being followed by at least five of the Nazgûl." Said the blond Elf to Strider.

"I'm afraid we, too, have bad news. On Weathertop we were attacked by the Nazgûl, Frodo was stabbed by on of their blades." Said Strider solemnly as Glorfindel bent down to exam the extremely pale Frodo.

After several seconds, he stood up. "This does not look good, _Dùnadan_. This is beyond my ability to heal. I believe that only Lord Elrond would able to heal him now, but we must hurry, we don't have much time left, or I fear we may lose him. Let us put him on Asfaloth." He then grabbed the poor Hobbit and, as gently as he could, placed him on the bare back of the horse. Because, like all Elves, Glorfindel preferred to ride bareback, he usually went without the bridal to, but he decided to put it on just in case.

Frodo protested at this, though it was barely coherent. It went something along the lines of it being unfair that only he should escape if the Riders were to appear, while he left his friends in danger. Glorfindel just looked at Strider, who in turn nodded to Hiryuu, who was currently trying to get he bag untangled from the mass of bags the Merry and Pippin had unceremoniously dropped onto the ground.

"Don't worry, young Halfling. You shall not be alone on Asfaloth, for Hiryuu will also be riding." Said Glorfindel, making sure Frodo was as comfortable as possible.

"I'll be what?" Came the deadpanned response.

"Now, Hiryuu. Calm down, we have a very good explanation."

"Go on."

"You're the lightest person here, besides the Hobbits, so it wouldn't put much strain on the horse, and you'll be able to defend Frodo in case the riders do come. That is, if Asfaloth should be unable to outrun them. We also mustn't forget the fact that you also know the way to Imladris." Said Strider, looking the slightly fuming girl in the eye. "You are also one of the few people I w that can fight more than one opponent at a time on a horse, while galloping no less. Besides, even though your earlier wounds have almost healed, I would rather if you stayed of them for a while, at least until you have seen a healer."

She folded her arms and looked at both of them critically before speaking, but both Elf and Man could easily see that she was gently rubbing a hand over her wound. The Elf could also barely see a tiny bit of blood that had seeped through the bandage and her shirt.

"This has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a girl, is it? Well, doesn't matter, I'll do it anyways. I can't stand to see Frodo in such pain. It is partially my fault he's like this anyways." She said sadly as she jumped up with practised ease onto the tall horse.

"Hiryuu, we've had this discussion before. It .Was. Not. Your. Fault." Said Strider tiredly.

"Doesn't matter, but I think I'll go ahead. The closer we get to Ada's house, the better I'll feel." With that, she gently squeezed the horse with her knees, while grabbing on the mane of the horse as it started galloping.

Strider and Glorfindel watched as she galloped off, before Strider picked up his things and headed after her. The remaining Hobbits each shared worried looks, but followed him nonetheless; Glorfindel took up the rear, with a hand on the hilt of his sword.

After a day or so (they had walked through most of the night, with only a five hour rest), they heard a sound that made their entire hearts leap. A sickening screech was heard from behind them.

Quickly they all ran off the road, and hid in some near-by bushes. Just as they were all hidden from view, three riders on black horses wearing black cloaks (although everyone watching them knew who they were) raced by at a furious gallop.

Several minutes after they had left, just to be sure there weren't any more, they slowly came out of bushes.

"I suggest we hurry now, and pray that Hiryuu reaches the Ford before they get to her." Said Glorfindel.

(With Hiryuu and Frodo a few hours later, they about two hours from the Ford)

After the first an hour or two of running, Hiryuu had slowed Asfaloths' speed to a trot. Even though he was an elvish horse, capable of running for longer and at much faster speeds than a regular horse, he still had limits. So she wanted to conserve his energy, and at this rate, they would make it to the Ford sometimes past midday, and Rivendell proper by sunset. All the while, Hiryuu only thought of different plans to get back at the Elf and Man that had gotten her into this position. Just because she was a woman was no reason to send her away! But, then again, they were right, she was the lightest person between the three of them. She could also fight while galloping at a breakneck speed, but so could they! Besides, what could her fighting abilities do at this point? It's not like the Nazgûl would come after her (A/N; I think I forgot to mention this earlier, Hiryuu knows _why_ the Hobbits are being chased, because of the Ring, but she doesn't remember that it's Frodo that has it, she thinks that she was sent ahead with Frodo because he was injured)!

Hiryuu yawned tiredly, she had been awake all night to make sure Frodo wouldn't fall off, normally this wouldn't affect her that much, since she was more of a night owl than a morning bird and could stay up all night without anyone, except her grandparents for some reason, being any the wiser. But the wounds she had acquired from fighting those Orcs a few days ago where healing up nicely, but because she was sending so much of her energy into healing, she had little left was barely enough to keep her conscious. Of course, it was the small cut on her arm, courtesy of the Nazgûl, was sapping most of her strength. That had been the most draining of all the cuts.

She yawned again, but took a careful look at her surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, though the trees seemed to be abnormally green for this time of year (according to the book the Hobbits left the Shire sometime in the early fall, roughly). 'Though that's probably because of the Elven influence in the area.' Thought Hiryuu. Her golden eyes swept across both sides of the road. She calmed down, content in the fact that she was alone.

Then it clicked. She was alone; there were no other sounds, except for the _clippety-clippety-clip _of the horses' hooves. The many sparrows and finches that usually populated (read; completely and totally overran) the woods in and around Rivendell, were strangely absent, even that odd squirrel that tended to attack her two older brothers, yet was very sweet with her, was absent.

Just as Hiryuu was about to explore this train of thought, she heard a bone-chilling screech, one that she had heard all-to-often these days. Looking back, she saw a sight that would haunt her nightmares for years to come.

Galloping towards her at full speed was five of the Dark Riders. Her eyes widened, and she said only one thing before she sent Asfaloth into a fast gallop.

"Oh shit!"

Fin of CH. 11!

Gin: Sorry for the delay, but I had a HUGE English essay due, and I was sick all of last week. Grumbles about pathetic hospital system in her town .

Hiryuu: Just ignore her, she's just mad because she had to spend six hours in the hospital, on her birthday of all days, for less than three minutes with a doctor. She might have spent more, but her mother is an **_excellent_** negotiator when it comes to her only daughters health.

Gin: I should take the time to mention that I should have another chapter up in about a week or so, it depends on how many people review. Because my rule of thumb is; I don't _start_ a new chapter until I get _at least_ one review. I would also like to take the time to thank the following person for your cool reviews.

BloodyPenhand; Thank you for the reviews! And for wishing me a happy birthday! This chapter is dedicated to you!


	13. Ch 12 Reaching the Ford finally!

Ch. 12 It will come to me eventually

Hiryuu looked back and saw the Dark Riders behind her. She groaned to herself and then turned her gaze to the cloudy sky. 'Why me?' She thought.

Grabbing the hilt of her sword, she quickly drew it, somehow managing to turn herself around the horse without making Frodo fall off. Said Hobbit was currently gripping the horses' mane very tightly.

"Asfaloth, I'm trusting you to lead us to Imladris safely! Now hurry, please!" Said Hiryuu as she fearfully saw the Riders gallop closer.

As if sensing his riders distress, Asfaloth began to run even faster. He was now running only _slightly_ faster than a regular horses' top speed. Yet still, the Riders were still catching up.

After several more minutes of intense galloping on the horses' part, the Nazgûl were finally within reach of the white horse. Unfortunately, this also meant that they were within reach of a rather sharp sword. And vice-versa.

Just as Hiryuu thrust her sword at the nearest, the Nazgûl also drew his sword and countered it.

'Kuso! That ain't fair!' Though Hiryuu as she drew her sword back and prepared to parry the return thrust. Casting a quick glance behind her, she saw that she was only a few minutes away from the Ford, and safety. She looked back to her opponents just in time to block another thrust.

Behind her, Frodo moaned in pain. 'Damn it! We won't make it! We need to go faster. Guess I have no choice but to go with Plan B.'

After giving one final thrust, strong enough to force the Rider back, she quickly sheathed her sword.

"Asfaloth, I'm trusting you to make it across the Ford with your Rider. Don't stop for anything!" Ordered the girl in Elvish. Then she grabbed onto one of the stronger branches above her and swiftly swinging on top of it, blatantly ignoring Frodos' weak cry of surprise. But she didn't stay on long before she jumped onto the ground, her eyes clouded over.

Immediately she was surrounded by a white nimbus cloud, and as soon as the Riders' horse came close, it went wild with a fear so deep that it overrode any and all fear it had of the Nazgûl.

When Hiryuu finally lifted her eyes, the Nazgûl saw that the normally calm grey eyes had been replaced by a pupil-less, fiery red colour that almost put the Great Eye itself to shame. At the sight of the eyes, the horse started bucking at it's rider, who was kicking it furiously, trying to regain control. Soon, the other eight horses that had been behind did the same thing once they got closer.

Hiryuu to smirked herself as her canines had started to elongate, her back hunched over and her joints reversed direction. All the while one of her charms around her neck, the shield charm, that had been hidden under her shirt began to glow.

** With Frodo**

Frodo watched weakly as Hiryuu fought off the Riders as best she could, He tried to understand what Hiryuu was saying to the horse they were riding, but she was talking to fast for him to understand. That, and his thoughts had been very muddled as of late and he was have a hard enough time trying to understand what everyone was saying in Common, never mind Elvish!

Just as he thought that, she jumped off the horse! Frodo cried out weakly on shock. He tried to see what she was doing, but he quickly lost sight of her. But he soon heard the terrified screams of horses mixed in with the screeching of the Nazgûl.

After that, he lost all sense of time, where every second seemed to last a century or longer, until finally he was overcome by the darkness that had been creeping up on him slowly. The last things he remembered before he fell into a dreamless slumber was a loud roar, hauntingly familiar to the one the Gandalfs' Dragon firework had created. Then, he knew no more.

**With the other guys**

As Sam, Merry, and Pippin slowly followed their guide Strider and the newcomer Glorfindel, they all had the same thought running through their head. 'How were Frodo and Hiryuu doing? Were they dead, alive, wounded, safe, in immediate danger or something else entirely?' It had been several hours since they had run off ahead.

Just as Merry was about to open his mouth how long it was to the Ford, when they heard a defining roar. Immediately Merry and Pippin hugged each other fearfully.

"Wh-what was that?" Asked Merry, eyes wide with fear.

"Hopefully nothing bad." Said Sam.

Meanwhile, Strider and Glorfindel looked up ahead. They looked at each other, and with a silent signal; Glorfindel ran ahead, heading towards where they were hearing loud clangs and roars.

"Where's he going?" Asked Sam.

"You'll find out when we get there. Now let us hurry. If we are fast enough, we should reach the Ford by dusk tonight. Now lets go!" Said Strider, just before he went off at a loping run. He was quickly followed by the now re-energized Hobbits.

**At Dusk**

Finally, after several hours of running (or jogging in Striders case) they finally reached the Ford, and with it; safety.

Of course, that did not mean that the first sight they saw of the Ford was a pretty one. There was blood everywhere, as well as five horses carcasses. It might be wise to mention that most of it was NOT Hiryuu's' but the horses of the Nazgûl. There were horse parts everywhere, it looked as if the pieces had been ripped off.

Merry, Pippin and Sam took one look at all the carnage, they all turned around and barfed. That's how bloody it was. Strider just looked at the mess with a thinned lips. It was only when they came back that they noticed that there were also large foot-prints scattered everywhere. A single one of them was larger than two hobbit feet put together. As Pippin found out when accidentally stepped in one.

Gulping quietly and hoping that he wouldn't come face-to-face with whatever made that print any time soon, he followed his fellow Hobbits and Strider as they crossed the knee-high (at least to Strider) river.

Once on the other side, they saw a difference between both sides of the river. While the West side of the riverbank was full of blood and large, scary footprints scattered everywhere as well as pieces of the black horses everywhere, the east side only had a single set of the large prints, heading towards a nearby thicket of trees. There was also a trail of blood beside the prints.

"Strider, what made those prints?" Asked Merry. Just then, they heard a low rumbling from deep inside the thicket.

"You should stay here. While you are safe from harm in Rivendell, there are some secrets here that should not yet be known. It would be wise for you to stay here, you need not fear an attack by the Nazgûl, for after this, I doubt they will be in a hurry to come anywhere near Rivendell until they gather their strength." With that, he pushed aside a bush from his path and headed deeper into the thicket.

Now, as we all know there are two kinds of people in the world. The wise, and the not-so-wise. Under the category of wise we have many different races; Elves, Wizards, Dark lords (you can't become an Evil overlord if your not smarter than a rock, after all), some of their chief servants, a few humans, Ents and so on so forth, and maybe a Hobbit or two. Under the category of the not-so-wise we have all the rest. Now, in which category do Merry and Pippin fall under? Yep, you guessed it. So, ignoring the words of someone far wiser; they followed Strider, not wanting to be left alone, Sam followed them.

On their quiet Hobbit-feet, they crept up to where they heard the low rumble. They then crouched down, so as to be less visible. Just as they were about to move aside the last bush that blocked their view, they were blinded by a bright light. The Hobbits, scared out of their minds, fled back to the river and awaited Strider.

He came a few minutes later. Told them to follow him and headed back the way he came. They reached Rivendell later on that night, since it was late and they were almost asleep on their feet, they were quickly ushered into bedrooms and out into bed without complaint.

Fin of Ch. 12-

**Gin; **I am once again sorry for the delay, but I have been so busy, you wouldn't believe it. I've written several essays to practise for my English MEQ exam, working on my history, studying for every subject, doing fundraising for my end of year trip next week! So I worn you, do not expect me to update anytime soon, because my Sec. 5 exams take priority over everything.

**Hiryuu;** She really is sorry, and hopes you'll accept her humble apology. She is also very sorry if you find this chapter a little mixed up in the whole time-frame thing, she's still working on that part of writing, but she wanted to get it up ASAP. Also, they fact that she keeps on losing her computer due to electricity problems and losing several paragraphs of writing several times has put her in a slightly off mood.

**Elladan; **She would also like to take the time to mention that she doesn't own LOTR, only Hiryuu is her own make.

**Hiryuu;** Hey, where did you come from? I haven't seen you in a while! Where's your twin?

Elrohir is sneaking up behind Hiryuu-

**Elladan; **Oh, he's around, somewhere.

A/N; The author would like to take the time to thank the following reviewers; **DarkAngelOfDreams **and **PrincessofRain. **Once again, I thank you.

Also, please note that I have changed my e-mail address, so if you want to send an e-mail directly to me, please look on my bio for my new one! Thank you for reading!


	14. Ch 13 A DRAGON!

Ch. 13; A DRAGON?

Glorfindel waited until he could no longer hear the Hobbits or Strider. Both of them knew that they had followed Strider, since it's almost impossible for someone to follow an Elf or Ranger with them noticing unless you were specially trained, when they got within range, Glorfindel used a spell to scare them away. With the Hobbits gone and their secret safe, Glorfindel turned his attention to the current mess his olds friends youngest adopted child had gotten herself into this time.

He turned around and came face to snout with a green dragon. Now, normally, the sight of ANY dragon would have the reborn Elf-lord unsheathing his sword faster than a Hobbit could yell 'Mushroom!' but Glorfindel knew this Dragon would not harm him intentionally, since he knew it personally. That, and it was gravely injured.

Although it was fairly large, it was still considered small in Dragon terms. Laying down, it's back was still taller than the Elf, and that was excluding it's long, bat-like wings that extended from behind the shoulder blades, the highest part reached over the shoulder and stopped midway up the neck, ending in a small claw, the tip of it went up to the base of it's tail, so that when it stood on two legs, the wouldn't drag. The Dragons back leg were enormously thick, they had to be to support most of the weight when walking, ending at the three-clawed foot. The snake-like tail was at least as long as it's body.

While back legs were thick and heavy, the front legs were smaller and only about the size and thickness of his own arms, they ended in three wickedly dagger long and sharp claws. It's neck was long and topped by a roughly triangle shaped head and on it's head were two very long ivory horns that were also spiked and slightly curved. Overall conclusion; very big, very scary, VERY dangerous.

However, when you got passed the whole 'big, mean, scary dragon' thing, you could see that it was also in immense pain. It's right hind leg was badly wounded, it had a long gash on it's side that was bleeding profusely, and since it was lying on it's side, you could clearly see a long, thin, wound that went across it peachy scaled under body. It's long snout also had a cut across it, although you could barely see it, on account that it's mouth was contorted in a fierce snarl because of it's immense pain.

When Glorfindel approached it, the giant creature opened only one wholly blood-red eye to see who it was.

"Shhh….There, there my friend, just stay calm, all will be better soon." Said Glorfindel in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He gently touched the wound on it's leg to see the extent of the damage, but quickly withdrew his hand when it whimpered, albeit loudly, in pain.

The whimper was responded by a calming whiney from his horse, how had taken refuge, with his unconscious passenger still on his back I might add, behind the dragon when the fighting started between this large beast and the Nazgûl. The dragon responded by a low rumble coming from it's chest.

Slowly, it closed it's eyes and a bright light suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere, until it finally concentrated on the dragon. It seemed as if it was absorbing it and getting brighter all the time, until it reached a point that Glorfindel had to shield his eyes or he feared he might be blinded.

He waited for several minutes before opening his eyes. When he did he saw that the green dragon had disappeared, but in it's place was a rather small girl, immediately recognizable as Hiryuu. She was standing up, her cloak was thrown back and her usually clean tunic and leggings were now blood soaked and torn. She looked blankly at Glorfindel and blinked owlishly before she closed her eyes and collapsed. Luckily he caught her before she fell onto her very badly wounded leg. All the wounds that had been on the dragons' body had transferred onto Hiryuus' body.

Gently holding Hiryuu in his arms in a position he hoped wouldn't worsen her wounds, he slowly walked to Asfaloth and gently eased her behind the Hobbit and slowly walked the rest of the way to Rivendell, his horse following faithful behind him.

He met up with a small group of Elves, led by the twins Elladan and Elrohir, they were probably sent by Lord Elrond after he got word of where they were from Aragorn.

One of them slowly approached Asfaloth and gently looked at his wounded passengers. He nodded once to his duplicate then turned to Glorfindel, probably Elladan.

"We shall continue on to the Ford, to make sure that the Nazgûl are gone." He said, before heading towards the Ford with most of his company. Only Elrohir stayed behind with him on the excuse that 'To make sure you don't make a fool of yourself and end falling on your facing from exhaustion.' But Glorfindel knew that he was just worried about his adopted youngest sibling.

They finally trudged into Rivendell a while later and were immediately surrounded by at least a dozen or so elves, all of them healers.

Basically it was a lot of noise, and only semi-organized. At leas tit was until Elrond yelled, loudly.

He immediately had both Frodo and Hiryuu carried to the Healing Wing of Rivendell and immediately set up trying to help them as best he could, starting with the most pressing wounds, such as the shard of a Nazgûl blade that was imbedded into Frodos shoulder, and the one that Hiryuu managed to get into her own leg. After they were gone, Glorfindel brought his horse to the stable and asked the Stable hand there to groom him thoroughly, so as to remove all of Hiryuus' blood that had seeped into his usually pristine white coat, after that, he when to his chambers and fell deeply asleep.

**Several Days Later**

It was several days before Frodo woke up, but when he did, he had a killer headache. Slowly opening his eyes, to let them adjust to the bright light.

"Where am I?" He asked groggily.

"You are in the house of Elrond. And it is 10:00 in the morning on October 24th, if you want to know." Said a deep and fairly recognizable voice.

"Gandalf!" Cried the weak Hobbit.

"Yes, I'm here. And you're lucky to be here too, Hiryuu as well! A few more hours, and both of you would have been beyond our aid. But both of you have amazing strength in yourselves, My dear friend." Said the Wizard, calmly lowering his pipe. Frodo struggled to sit up. He looked at his trusted friend.

"What happened Gandalf? Where's Hiryuu, is she alright? She isn't hurt is she? Why didn't you meet us the Prancing Pony?" Said the worried Hobbit.

At these words, Gandalf small smile turned into a small frown.

"I'm sorry Frodo," said the wizard, "I was delayed." He said absentmindedly as he thought about the treachery of one of his oldest friends; Saruman. How he had been imprisoned on top of his tower, and how he escaped. After he had finished with his tale Frodo looked up at him with confusion.

"Gandalf? What is it?"

The old wizard just looked at him calmly.

"Nothing, Frodo."

"Then can you tell me what happened to Hiryuu?" Asked Frodo, and just as the wizard was about answer, they were interrupted.

"Frodo!" The Hobbit looked quickly towards the door, just in time to see Sam rushing up at him."Frodo!" He yelled again.

"Sam!"

"Bless you, you're awake!" He said happily.

"Sam has hardly left your side, except to check up on our other injured friend." Said Gandalf, smiling broadly.

"We were that worried about them. Weren't we, Mr. Gandalf?"

"By the skills of Lord Elrond, you're beginning to mend."

"What about Hiryuu?" Asked Frodo worriedly, he noticed that the wise wizard had been avoiding his question for the last while.

"She is resting at this moment. I suspect she'll wake up sometime soon. I welcome you to Rivendell, Frodo Baggins." Said a new voice.

Frodo turned to see a new person that had silently walked to Gandalfs' side, He had long brown hair that was all gathered at the back, save for two strand that fell on either said of face. He also had pointed ears. Frodo assumed that this was the Great Lord Elrond that he had heard so much about from his Uncle Bilbo.

"May I go see Hiryuu? If it is alright with you sir, of course. It's just that I am very worried about her." Asked Frodo, prayer harder than he ever had before to be able to see her again.

Lord Elrond looked at Frodo with his stern grey eyes, after several intense, at least for Frodo, moments, he spoke.

"You may. But not right now, you need rest, and I still must see to a few more of her injuries before I permit anyone to see her. Her injuries are severe, I'm afraid that she will be bedridden for several more days after she wakes before I let her walk around." Said the Elf Lord, before turning and walking out of the room, to leave the two Hobbits to talk in peace, and to check up on his adopted daughters injuries. He headed out of the Healing wing, and into what was commonly known as they Family Wing, were members of Elronds' family, close friends and very important guests slept.

Once they were out of earshot, Gandalf laughed.

"My dear friend, somehow I doubt you'll manage to get your daughter to stay in bed as long as you wish. We both know she has a bad habit of finding new ways of getting out. She also has the most incredible ability to heal quickly, why, she would almost rival an Elf!"

"I know that as well, but I can always pray that for once she will listen." They continued talking like this for some time before they reached Hiryuus' door. It was very recognizable as hers. As it was painted a deep blue (her second favourite colour), while all the rest of the doors in this particular part of the Wing were all pale earthy colours, beige, light brown, each one a different colour to help them differentiate who's room was who's whenever Lord Elronds sons and daughters would arrive home late at night and prevent any embarrassing moments that shall not be explained in this story.

Quietly, Elrond opened the door and they both peered inside. The inside of the room was a mass of black and blue, with some silver here and thereto add a bit of colour. The four giant windows that were usually kept shut on all but the hottest days and nights, were now open, letting in a gentle breeze waft through the room.

Most of the walls were painted a calming ocean blue, at least the parts you could see, since one wall was lined with many books, another was taken up by the windows, the other wall held many different swords, daggers and other bladed weapons that had been gifts from friends and teachers, one or two of them were of her own design that she asked the smiths to make, the weapons all surrounded a door that led to her own bathroom. The last wall, the one with the door that led to the hall, was covered in many pictures of her friends and family. The ones closest to the tops were drawn by an inexperienced hand of a child, but as you would look down, they slowly got better and better. This particular wall reminded Elrond of the walls in one of his rooms, it was completely covered by literally hundreds of pictures drawn by both his real children and adopted ones. It was affectionately known of as the 'Hall of Paper' by all who had seen it.

There, laying in a bed seemingly deep asleep, was Hiryuu. Although her sleep was far from peaceful, her brows were knitted slightly in the pain the Elrond had not managed to dull, as he feared that to much of the pain killer would send her into a coma. All of her injuries were tightly wrapped and appeared to be freshly changed. With her right leg and left arm having the most bandages.

Elrond entered the room and undid the wraps to see how much they had healed in the last day. Luckily her leg was healing fine, though it would be a few weeks before Hiryuu would walk without a small limp, and was uninfected even though it had been cut with a Morgul blade, this was probably due to the fact that Hiryuu had been transformed at the time. Her left arm though, was not so fortunate. It too, had been cut by the blade, but a tiny shard of the sword had entered her body. The wound wasn't fresh either. The moment Lord Elrond had caught sight of the festering wound, he knew that she had had it for several days at least, and as his son Aragorn had not mentioned a wound this serious, he could only presume that she had kept it secret from him, not realizing what damage it could do. Luckily her spirit was strong and had slowed down the shard so that it wouldn't pierce her heart. But Gandalf and Elrond shuddered to think of what would have happened then.

After making sure they were getting better, they left the young girl to rest and regain her strength.

-Fin of Chapter 13-

(PS SFT is short for Silver Fox Trot)

**SFT;** Yeah! I've finished another chapter!

**Everyone;** Congrats!

**SFT bows to the crowd**

**Hiryuu;** While my creator is busy with that, I shall keep you company!

**Elladan;** Me as well! As my brother is off on a mission without me! (not really)

**SFT comes back**

**SFT;** I'm back, now which one of you two wants to do the disclaimer while I remember to put one up?

**Both shrug and say at the same time;** Silver Fox Trot owns nothing! Except for me/Hiryuu!

**SFT;** Great, now for my bit! I would like to that the following reviewer; Anawey(Â ). And to mention that I shall **NOT** be updating until I get about 35 reviews, and I am looking for a beta reader, someone that shall read over my chapters **BEFORE** I post them, and who shall be in charge of finding small errors, plot holes, and spelling mistakes my spell checker might have missed. If you are interested in this job, send an **E-MAIL** (not a review) saying why you want this job, how often you're online and how meticulous you are in looking for mistakes and things. You have until I post the next chapter to respond. Those that send a review shall **NOT** be considered. If you are wondering why I am doing this now, it's cause I've spotted several errors already in my fic that my grammar/spellchecker didn't catch… Well, good luck to you all! **Takes a deep breath.**

**p.s**; Must not kill Quickedit, must not kill. Stupid thing keeps on removing my indents!


	15. Ch 14 Hot & Cold

**CH. 14 Hot & Cold**

Frodo was confined to bed for several days after that. Luckily he had Sam by him most of the time, Merry and Pippin also dropped by quite often, whenever they didn't get lost that is.

Just before the time that Lord Elrond made his daily rounds; Frodo was resting peacefully on his bed. He had sent Sam away to get some rest, and had told Merry and Pippin to make sure he didn't some back until after lunch. He didn't do it because he wanted Sam to be gone, but because he knew that Sam had always wanted to see Elves, and now was his chance. He was currently contemplating how Hiryuu was doing; he was very worried about his new friend that had saved his life. Gandalf had come in yesterday evening muttering about something that he didn't catch, and told him she was doing well, and expected to wake up any day now.

Suddenly, he was awakened from his musings when a felt a weight jump onto his bed. He looked down and saw a cat at the foot of his bed, but this one was a little different from the ones he was used to seeing. For one, it had long fur; all the other cats' he'd seen were shorthair. Instead of being yellow or green eyed, it had a cool blue gaze, it was also a greyish-blue in colour, but only on it's face, paws, and the tip of it's furry tail, the rest was a paler grey-white.

"Hello there." He said to the cat. The cat just blinked at him sleepily, before slowly slinking up to him and curling up beside his legs, it then began to purr. Loudly.

Frodo cautiously brought his hand forward and pet the cat gently. This made the cat purr even more loudly, if that was possible.

"It seems you have company, Frodo Baggins." Said someone. Frodo looked up to see Strider leaning against the doorframe to his room, casually eating an apple.

"Yes, he just appeared though. Do you know his name? It is a he, right?" Asked Frodo, still petting the purring cat.

"Yes. It is a he, and his name is Gris-fou. He belongs to Hiryuu. I suspect she might be waking up soon though. Would you care to return her cat to her?" Asked the Ranger between bites of his apple.

Frodo blinked, a little shocked at seeing Strider wearing something beside the Ranger clothing he had seen him wearing for the past few weeks. Instead of dirt incrusted wool coat garments, he was wearing –clean- and well cut velvet. Frodo raised an eyebrow. Eyeing the now spick-and-span Ranger.

Strider just shrugged the look off.

"So, would you like to see Hiryuu?" Prompted Strider once again.

Frodo nodded and slowly climbed out of the gigantic (at least to him, really, how could Elrond NOT have any Hobbit-sized beds?) bed. He had gotten Elronds bill of full health yesterday and was free to wonder around, as long as he didn't push himself. As soon as he was off, he turned and picked up the heavy looking cat in his arms and was a little surprised at how little it weighed. 'Must be the fur.' Thought Frodo. He looked up to Strider, silently asking for directions.

The Ranger nodded his head and left the room, with the Hobbit following calmly behind him, purring cat in hand.

Frodo was led down a large maze of hallways and even a few secret passages, finally he was led down what Frodo presumed to be the privet wing of Rivendell, where personal guests and visiting dignitaries and such slept.

Strider led Frodo up a hallway with many different coloured doors; he was about to ask why this was when Strider stopped in front of a blue coloured door and knocked on it.

"Who is it?" Said a muffled voice.

Strider opened the door a bit and stuck his head in.

"It's me and Frodo."

"Come in, then. Hurry up before all the heat escapes!" Said the muffled voice of which Frodo presumed to be Hiryuu.

Strider opened up the door wider and stepped in, hesitantly followed by Frodo, who was still holding the cat.

As soon as he entered the dark and rather warm room, the cat in his arms began struggling to get free. Frodo let the fluffy cat down and it immediately ran to the large four-poster bed in the room, jumped onto it and preceded to wiggle its way into the large pile of blankets in the middle of the bed.

The room was quite dark, the only light being a fire burning fiercely in the fireplace. As soon as his eyes had adjusted to the dim light he saw the curtains were drawn across along the wall farthest from him. Frodo presumed that the wall must be mostly made out of windows. Probably very glass.

Frodo ignored Strider as he walked up to the bed and sat on one of the two chairs on either side, instead choosing to look around the dark room. He was surprised at how dark it was, while the rest of Rivendell, well, the parts he had seen at least, were all painted in earthly and pale colours, the predominate colour in this room were blue and black, with the only bright colours in the room coming from a small pot of some type of pink flower Frodo had never seen before.

A loud cough finally brought his attention to the bed and the occupants of the chairs surrounding. Sitting on the either side of the bed were two dark haired twin elves. They both had long, dark brown hair that reached just below their slender shoulders, with one small braid tied on either side of their forehead. They were both dressed in very fine robes.

Finally one of them, the one the right side of the bed, spoke up.

"So, you must be Frodo. My name is Elladan. My younger twin over there is Elrohir, and under the pile of blankets on the bed is Hiryuu."

Frodo just stared at the elf, a little uncertain on how to behave around elves.

"Why don't you sit down? You're still recovering from the attack. If father comes in, which he's bound to do at some point, and sees that we've kept you on your feet, he'll skin us all alive!" Came the muffled voice of Hiryuu from somewhere beneath mounds of blankets.

Frodo sat down on one of the chairs, but found that he couldn't see the pile of blankets on the bed "Sit on the bed, that way I can see you."

Frodo complied and awkwardly climbed onto the bed. He looked at the pair of grey eyes that flashed in the pile of dark blankets.

"So, how are you?" He asked hesitantly.

"Other than feeling slightly choked from being pampered so much, and a little cold, I'm fine." Came the muffled reply.

"Why are you cold? It's so hot in here!" Exclaimed Frodo, sweat pouring from all the stifling heat.

Hiryuu was about to respond when the door opened again and in strode the Lord of Rivendell, tray full of medical supplies in hand.

When he saw that Hiryuu's room was occupied with people other than his patient, he raised a well-defined Elvin eyebrow.

"Hello Father." Said Elrohir as the elf walked father into the room.

"Good day, Elrohir. Making sure our young patient stays put, are you?" Said Elrond as he put the tray down on the small table beside the bed. Frodo saw that they tray held several long rolls of bandages and two different types of some kind of ointment.

"You could say that. Well, we'll leave you to your work now. Come on Frodo, we'll walk you back to your room." Said Elladan, and before he knew it, Frodo was halfway down the hall.

Finally alone, Hiryuu reluctantly removed herself from the snug pile of blankets, for all her complaints of being cold, she wore very little clothing, only a loose tank top and a worn pair of pants. It was probably because of the many tight wraps that covered her left leg and both of her arms. Gris-fou jumped onto the pile and watched the elf work on his wounded mistress.

Without a word being spoken, Elrond began to gently remove the ones on her right arm. The top layers were a dull white, but the closer to the skin, the bloodier the bandage became. Elrond had a little trouble removing the last layer, as the blood had dried, thus causing it to stick to the skin. Hiryuu hissed in pain as he removed the last part, but otherwise made no other sound.

Elrond put the bloody things on the tray and picked up one of the two ointments and began applying the cold medicine to the gash on her arm, all the while ignoring the sound of Hiryuu's chattering teeth.

This was a medicine that Rei had given him several years prior it was a special medicine from Hiryuu's home and would work only on her. It was poisonous to every other race. An unfortunate side effect was that it collected all the heat in her body. Even in her human form, Hiryuu was still much warmer than the average person.

Once he was done, he began on the other arm, but this time using the other ointment, this one was mixed with athelas. Hiryuu let the calming odour relax her exhausted body, by the time Elrond had finished tending all the wounds, she was fast asleep.

Elrond smiled at the sight of the sleeping girl and tucked her in, his hand rubbing her forehead soothingly. Before he left, he gave the cat, which had jumped onto Hiryuu's chest when his bed of blankets had been removed, a pet as well, then left the room quietly.

When Elrond had left his youngest child's room, he sighed. Tomorrow there was to be a council that would probably end up determining the fate of Middle-Earth. He was not at all looking forward to it.

* * *

Authors Note;

SFT; Gah! I'm so sorry for not updating in such a long time, but I was waiting for my 35th review. Then, when I FINALLY got that review, my computer breaks and I spent over a month without it. So, yeah, but now, I'm back!

I would like to thank the following reviews; they were the ones that gave me the conviction to write it, so you should probably thank them too! I would also like to give a personal thanks to kerricarri, for reviewing all those chapters, thanks!

Lightmare852, kerricarri, Athena191, BloodyPenhand, Boz4PM (please read a bit below), PrincessofRain, I luv DRAGONS, Hippielover459.

Once again, I thank you.

Boz4PM;

I know that Dragons in the original LOTR were evil, which was why I wrote that she came from a different dimension (Breath of Fire 3, to be specific, it's an old PS1 game, but it has a cool story). This is fanfiction; it's NOT supposed to be like the real story, that would be considered plagiarism, which is illegal. If you don't like my story, then don't read it. Thank you for complimenting my grammar though. I take great pride in being one of the many that actually takes the time to make the story LOOK good, instead of only sounding good. As for The Silmarillion…I tried to read the book, but got lost two chapters in, WAY to many names beginning with the same frickin letter! As for the elves not liking dragons, well, that gave me a headache for several days trying to find a way around it. I have found a good reason, but I shall not reveal it yet.


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